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

38

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.

Mary's rivers, but was coldly received; most of the chiefs being
dissatisfied with the policy of the Americans toward them, and
prejudiced through English misrepresentation. Full accounts of
his adventures among the tribes reached Gov. St. Clair at Kaskaskia in June, 1790. Being satisfied that there was no prospect of
effecting a general peace with the Indians of Indiana, he resolved
to visit Gen. Harmar at his headquarters at Fort Washington and
consult with him on the means of carrying an expedition against
the hostile Indians; but before leaving he intrusted Winthrop
Sargent, the Secretary of the Territory, with the execution of the
resolutions of Congress regarding the lands and settlers on the
Wabash. He directed that officer to proceed to Vincennes, lay
out a county there, establish the militia and appoint the necessary
civil and military officers. Accordingly Mr. Sargent went to Vincennes and organized Camp Knox, appointed the officers, and notified the inhabitants to present their claims to lands. In establishing these claims the settlers found great difficulty, and concerning
this matter the Secretary in his report to the President wrote as
follows:
" Although the lands and lots which were awarded to the inhabitants appeared from very good oral testimony to belong to those
persons to whom they were awarded, either by original grants, purchase or inheritance, yet there was scarcely one case in twenty
where the title was complete, owing to the desultory manner in
which public business had been transacted and some other unfortunate causes. The original concessions by the French and British
commandants were generally made upon a small scrap of paper,
which it has been customary to lodge in the notary's office, who
has seldom kept any book of record, but committed the most important land concerns to loose sheets, which in process of time
have come into possession of persons that have fraudulently destroyed them; or, unacquainted with their consequence, innocently
lost or trifled them away. By French usage they are considered
family inheritances, and often descend to women and children. In
one instance, and during the government of St. Ange here, a royal
notary ran off with all the public papers in his possession, as by a
certificate produced to me. And I am very sorry further to observe
that in the office of Mr. Le Grand, which continued from 1777 to
1787, and where should have been the vouchers for important land
transactions, the records have been so falsified, and there is such
gross fraud and forgery, as to invalidate all evidence and information which I might have otherwise acquired from his papers."