Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2013, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== PIONEER HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY, MICHIGAN by Florence McKinnon Gwinn Huron County Pioneer & Historical Society, 1922 [page 41] CHAPTER III EARLY TOWNSHIP HISTORY CASEVILLE TOWNSHIP Caseville Township is next and is numbered 17 north of range 10 east. It embraced all of the territory now occupied by Brookfield, Chandler, Lake, Fair Haven, Grant, Oliver, McKinley and Winsor. A meeting to or- ganize the township and elect officers was held April 2, 1860. At this time ALEXANDER WHEELER was elected supervisor, ABRAHAM FOX, treasurer and FRANCIS CRAW- FORD, clerk. A sandy ridge varying from a hundred rods to three or four miles belts the shore of the bay and where the village of Caseville is situated the Pigeon river empties into the lake. This fact gave the village the name of the "Mouth" in early days. One of the earliest records we have of white men visiting this place on the Pigeon river is that related by EDWIN JEROME at a meet- ing held in Bay City, June 24, 1874. Mr. JEROME said: "In the latter part of the summer of 1833 I enlisted in the war department commanded by General ANDERSON, then a resident of Detroit, to assist in a coast survey of Lake Huron. Our field service commenced on the shores of Lake Huron a few miles above Fort Gratiot, at the then northern terminus of the government survey of Michigan. Our party made the first survey of the pearly little stream, took soundings of the noble harbor and the beautiful site of the then far famed city of White Rock. Leaving this capacious harbor so well stocked with de- fensive boulders we soon arrived at and successfully doubled that rough, rocky, small caverned cape, Pointe Aux Barques. Leaving the broad expanse of Lake Huron we entered the extensive bay of Saginaw, whose dan- gerously rough seas brought to mind the perilous voy- ages of the fishermen of that and later times. At our ar- rival at Pigeon river we crossed over and made a sur- vey of Charity Island, but unfortunately left a small dog belonging to Lieut. POOLE in the woods. The next day I was detailed with four others and with two days' pro- visions in a yawl boat to rescue the dog. We proceeded about 13 miles, propelled by oars under a clear, calm sky and placid waters. On approaching the cove sided [page 42] PIONEER HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY island we were reminded of our errand of mercy by the dog leaping into the air, running and capering, with joyous yelpings he leaped into the boat. We immediate- ly set out on our return with the brightest prospects and a full spread of canvas. When about eight rods from shore we suddenly encountered a southwesterly gale and twice attempted and failed to come in stays with a view to regain the island. On the thire endeavor our mast cracked about off near the foot and the sail dipped water bringing in stays double quick with an ominous sheet of water pouring over the side. By a great and despairing effort with our weight on the upper side our sail lifted from the water and our craft righted. Hats and shoes were vigorously plied in bailing and as soon as possible our oars were put in motion and the boat headed for the island, a quarter of a mile distant. After an hour of the hardest struggle for life we found our- selves nearing the island on which we were glad to camp for the night. The next day we placed our little craft before the gale and one hour and twenty minutes sped us safely into our camp on the Pigeon river." (6) About 1836 REUBEN DODGE, a hunter, trapper and shingle weaver, came to what is now Caseville and built a small house just back of the Holland House on the banks of the river. With him were his wife and three daughters, SARAH (afterwards Mrs. MOSES GREGORY), MARY and SUSAN. July 24, 1840, his son, REUBEN DODGE, Jr., was born, the first white child in this section of the country. For the first four years this family had no neighbors other than Indians. This place and above the present Caseville cemetery being a favorable camping ground. Fish and game were in abundance. There were also plenty of wild fruit and nuts in their season. The maple trees nearby furnished sap for sugar. One squaw came up every spring from Port Huron during the sugar season. They had tapped the trees for many years be- fore the white settlers came as the black spots in the trunks where the cuttings had been made to get the sap ------- (6) Michigan Historical Collection. Vol. 1, page 22 [page 43] PIONEER HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY were entirely grown over and the annual concentric rings showed that sugar-making had been carried on for more than a century. For flint for arrow points, spears or knives these red men had resorted to the vicinity of Bay Port or Port Austin. They had an arrow factory at the east end of the "Broken Rocks" and flint chips can still be found there. They also made pottery at the clay mound in a grove of small trees near there. At this date there was quite a settlement of the Chippewa In- dians on the Sheboyonk creek. They were quite friendly towards the white settlers and often gave them venison or bear steak. Amid such surroundings as these the children of this pioneer family spent their childhood. The first white neighbor they had was a trapper and hunter by the name of HEATH. He erected a log cabin nearby for his Indian wife MILLY and his two sons JOHN and MARTIN. It was no unusual thing for these white fur traders and trappers to marry Indian women. Many of these men spent their lives in Indian communities and by their kindness to the savages made the future settlers' entrance into the community possible. The traders' in- fluence was often required to induce the Indians to give up their hunting grounds to the emigrant and peacefully vacate lands which they had rightly considered theirs. (2) A few years after his arrival HEATH died while DODGE was away on one of his periodical hunting trips. As there was no undertaker, HEATH'S Indian wife dug the grave and buried him just behind the present residence of JAMES HORTON. This man was the first white person buried there. Mr. DODGE killed the last moose seen in Huron county near the present Maccabee Hall. He had a narrow escape with his life from the infuriated crea- ture, which attacked him on being wounded. At this time Port Huron was the nearest market and there DODGE carried his shingles and furst in a canoe. A tenderfoot would have been out of place on trips like these. In the day plying the oars, at night camping if possible near some revulet or spring. Wrapping himself in a blanket ------- (2) The Michigan Fur Trader. [page 44] PIONEER HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY with gun nearby he often lay on the bare ground or perhaps with a few green boughs for a bed. such was the life of many of these trappers, stripped seemingly of every comfort in the shape of food, clothing or re- creation. They became immune to every form of hard- ship and privation and resembled in many respects their Indian allies. The next white man to settle in this vicinity was CHARLES SMITH, a land broker and hunter. MILLY HEATH became his house keeper. He pre-empted the land which now constitutes the LEIPPRANDT and WIGHTMAN farms, also one forty of the JOE GWINN estate. In his rambles along the shores of Saginaw bay he made the acquaintance of JAMES DUFTY, who had come to Grind- stone City in 1848. Neighbors were few and far be- tween so in the course of time Mr. DUFTY and his family came up the shore in a canoe to visit SMITH. Such events as these were the only breaks in the humdrum life of the pioneer. When Mr. DUFTY landed at Pigeon river he found no one living there other than CHAS. SMITH and some Indians, DODGE having departed on one of his hunt- ing trips down the shore. He would often be away for weeks at a time if he found good timber to make into shingles. It was a common thing for the shingle weav- ers to prey upon Uncle Sam's timber domain before the organization of Huron County. Mr. DUFTY spent a few days visiting and then returned to his home near Port Austin. WILLIAM DUFTY, his son, althought but a child at the time has a vivid recollection of seeing the squaws. He was naturally afraid of these dark-skinned women, but they were delighted with his light-colored hair and tried in their way to be very friendly with him. In 1856 JAMES DUFTY moved to Caseville and entered upon his duties as employee of Mr. CRAWFORD. He became justice of the peace at the formation of the township and held this office until his death. His name is associated with the erection of all the steam saw mills built in Huron County at that early period. During the later years of his life he served as sexton of the Caseville M. E. church and woe betide the boy who dared to make any disburb- [page 45] PIONEER HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY ance during a service. One look was enough and there was perfect order. His untiring industry, his legal ac- quirements and his skill as an advocate will long be re- membered by those who knew him in the years of his ac- tivity in the local affairs of the town. ===========================================================================