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

HISTORY OF SAGINAW COUrTTY.

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is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, of the Yankee pioneers to
Detroit now living, as he came with his mother to that city in 1815.
From Concord, ass, to Buffalo, N. Y., the journey was accomplished by wagon, from Buffalo to the mouth of Detroit river on a
schooner of 40 tons burthen, called the "Salem Packet;" the
master, or captain, of the "Packet" was Eber Ward, father of
Capt. Eber B. Ward, now of Detroit. It required 13 days to make
the trip from Buffalo to the Detroit river. At this point the "Packet"
was detained by contrary winds. Mr. Williams' father chartered
a cart, and had his goods carted to Windsor, opposite Detroit,
from which point they were ferried over in a dug-out. In those
days moving was a rather rough experience. Mr. Williams paid
$15 each for passage from Detroit, and $5 per barrel bulk for the
goods.
At this time Benjamin Woodworth kept the chief tavern in
Detroit. It was not a very extensive establishment, but was
enlarged from time to time, and, under the good management of
'"Uncle Ben," obtained great reputation as "Uncle Ben Woodworth's Steam-boat Hotel." For years it was the headquarters of
steam-boat men, after steamers began running on the lakes. It
was situated on Woodbridge street, immediately behind where the
Firemen's Hall now stands. Oliver Williams kept a tavern of
less pretensions on Jefferson avenue, under "the old elm tree,"
and another tavern was kept by the father of the late Judge C. W.
Whipple, down near the Cass farm. These were at that period
the hotel accommodations of the village of Detroit, then containing about 1,000 inhabitants. " Emerson, Mack & Conant" was
the leading mercantile house in Detroit at that time. The firm
was composed of Thomas Emerson, father of Curtis Emerson,
Esq., of East Saginaw, Stephen Mack and Shubel Conant. They
kept a general assortment of dry-goods, groceries, crockery and
hardware. Henry J. IEunt, Abel May, Edward and John S.
Krebel also sold goods, but did not carry as heavy stocks as Emerson, Mack & Conant. All these merchants were in the habit of
issuing what were called "shin-plasters," which passed as the
"legal tender" of the country.
James Abbott was the agent of the American Fur Company,
whose " headquarters " for the West were at Detroit; he was also
postmaster. The mails from the East were very irregular. It
often took four weeks or more for a letter from New England to
reach Detroit, and the postage was 25 cents.
Gen. Lewis Cass, Messrs. Lamed, Ten Eyck, Witherell, Forsythe, John and Thomas Palmer, and Judge Woodward, who
afterward made the plat of the city, were among the prominent
men of the Territory.
In the same year (1815), "Uncle Harvey" commenced blacksmithing on the ground where the Russell House now stands,
making steel-traps, axes, and doing general custom work for the
inhabitants; there was only one other shop of the kindin Detroit,
which was owned by a Frenchman named Pelky.