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 56] CHAPTER III EARLY TOWNSHIP HISTORY TOWNSHIP OF FAIR HAVEN The township of Fair Haven was organized April, 1863. Its territory was originally included with that of Sebewaing and Caseville. JOHN S. DAVIS was the first supervisor. The land in the western portion is a sandy loam and in the eastern part a clay loam. The lumber was oak, elm, maple, hemlock and pine. This township [page 57] PIONEER HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY includes all of the islands in Wild Fowl Bay. It has an area of 58 square miles. Its east boundary diverges so as to include part of Sand Point, which is a narrow strip of land extending due west into Saginaw Bay. This point forms the northern boundary of the township and also that of Wild Fowl Bay. The fire of '71 touched the eastern portion, but the township escaped the destruction of '81. Rev. J. J. AUCH, of Sebewaing established a mission on the She- boyonk Creek, on a beautiful spot near the "Middle" grounds among the Chippewa Indians, who then num- bered several hundred. They were peaceful, hospitable and humane, zealous in their devotion to their Che-mon- a-tow (Great Spirit) and were ruled by their beloved old chieftain SOE-A-CHE-WAH-O-SAH or (brilliant rising sun) with love and kindness says one familiar with their ways and habits. Their hunting grounds were extensive and abound- ed with game. They tilled small patches of ground, raised their own corn and potatoes, bartered their furs for clothing when they had an opportunity to do so. They were not impressed with Mr. AUCH and the interpreters who had frequently misinterpreted what he said. The result was that he did not have a single con- vert during the years he preached to them. They had bought their land from the government in 1847 and in 1856 sold it to settlers coming into that vicinity. Most of the INDIANS either fell a victim to King Alcohol or the smallpox. Some left for parts unknown and others went to Warwick, Canada, until after the Civil War. At the close of that struggle a number of them came back to Huron County, where they hunted, trapped or fished while the squaws made baskets, which they either sold in the villages or to the settlers. Often the children of these Indians would attend the country school if their wigwams were near by. The little town of Bay Port is in this township. It borders on the bay and is quite a noted summer resort. [page 58] PIONEER HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY The scenery along the shore is beautiful and there are numerous little coves where small craft can rest at anchor. The township is rightly named Fair Haven. The first white settler was CARL HEISTERMAN, who pur- chased an island in Wild Fowl Bay from the United States. It contained 400 acres. The township was not organized at the time he located, in 1853. He retained this property for 30 years, then sold it to a club from Saginaw for resort purposes. The consideration was $11,000. Mr. HEISTERMAN was unusually well informed, having obtained his education is Prussia, where he took courses in philosophy, medicine and political economy, going later to Leipsic to translate French medical lit- erature into English. He came to America at the time of the Mexican War and enlisted for a period of five years. When his term of enlistment expired he came to Saginaw and soon afterward to Huron County. He married MARY DUTCHER in 1849. Was supervisor of Fair Haven for sixteen years, register of deeds in 1876 and state senator in 1884. Another island in Wild Fowl Bay was the home of the GILINGHAMS, who were engaged in the fishing in- dustry. About a mile from the present site of Bay Port, on the Sebewaing and Port Austin road, was a commodious hotel kept by R. S. SQUIRES, who had come into this coun- ty in 1851. All of this region was then one vast wilder- ness and the Indian trails were the only roads. There were but few white people except those on the eastern shore of the county. The neighbors of Mr. SQUIRES were mostly Indians. His daughter, who died a few years after her birth, was the first white child born in what is now Fair Haven township. It is strange that so many men in all ages have had such a prosperity to abandon the com- forts of home in their native land, or land of their birth, and seek a new home in such a wilderness as this was at that early period. The spirit of adventure had a strong appeal for many. Another early settler was WILLIAM HENNE, who came in 1863, and three years before that SIDNEY SMITH came into the township and bought 280 [page 59] PIONEER HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY acres on the Shebeon Creek. He lived here alone for many years. The early pioneers of the township nearly all settled along the shore on the old sand road between Bay Port and Sebewaing. Here we find the TACKS, HARTMANS, HILYERS, TARRYS, SHARPSTEINS, DUTCHERS, PITCH- ERS, DEMINGS, and GEORGE TAYLOR, who did all the black- smith work in those years in that vicinity. The SNELL brothers came to Bay Port in the '60's. J. W. SNELL and his wife purchased 2,000 acres of land in the county. He built a general store which he conducted in addition to farming and lumbering. He represented the people in the Michigan Legislature for two terms, beginning in 1868. Mrs. SNELL did much for the Methodist Episcopal Society at Bay Port, while Mrs. THOMAS SNELL was an ardent supporter of the Baptist church. THOMAS SNELL and his wife afterward moved to Bad Axe, where they purchased a farm, while Mr. and Mrs. J. W. SNELL moved in later years to Albion to educate their children. The ABBOTS and GIVILS were also early settlers here. The Shebeboyonk Creek drains Fair Haven. Vege- tables of all kinds do well here and the township boasts of having produced the largest yield of potatoes in those years in the county, over 300 bushels per acre. Three miles southeast of Bay Port are several quarries, which have been operated in these later years. They produce a stone of surpassing strength and beauty. The stone has a thickness of one hundred feet through all its strata. The upper sixteen feet are limestone, the next twenty feet are a drab-colored sand stone and then follow fif- teen feet of red and brown stone which makes very fine building material. Underneath are fifty feet of shale. The tests of the stone prove it to be of remarkable strength and beauty. It is as impervious to water as granite and will weather perfectly. It is also as heavy as any lime stone and as heavy as most granite. It is therefore an indeal material for all building and structural purposes. The upper layer of stone is used for macad- amizing roads and has been used for this purpose in the various cities of the state. The second layers are burn- ed for lime. The sand stone is quarried and use for [page 60] PIONEER HISTORY OF HURON COUNTY building purposes. The Hoyt public library in Saginaw is one of the most elegant and conspicuous buildings con- structed from it. Today on these grounds are lime kilns, crushing plants and other forms of heavy machinery employing scores and scores of men and turning out tons upon tons of valuable products. Little did the pioneer of those early days dream of the untold wealth lying under his feet as he traveled over this part of the township. The lumber resources were the principal at- traction in that period of the county's history. By means of this industry men were enabled to live and support their families. ===========================================================================