Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2026 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== USGenNet 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 USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. ============================================================================= The Muskegon Chronicle Saturday, 8 July, 1899 Pioneer Days in Muskegon E. H. LESPERANCE, who Came Here in 1852, Tells of the Early Incidents, Plenty of Ague and Indians. EDWARD H. LESPERANCE, of 54 E. Muskegon avenue, is an early pioneer of this city. "It was on the 10th of August, '52, that I came here," he said to The Chron- icle the other day. "I was born in Detroit in '28. I went to Chicago from there, and then came to Muskegon. I was the short time of seven days coming from Chicago to Muskegon, coming over on the schooner 'Governor Porter,' owned by JOHN RUDDIMAN. I landed at the mouth, jumped off at the beach and walked up. On my way up, right close to Muskegon lake and near Ruddiman's creek, there was a grave where a sailor was buried. Is it there yet? I don't think so, though the bones may be there. "It was all woods around here that day. I suppose it looked more wild to me because I wasn't used to much timber. MRS. SHEPHERD'S folks - that is her mother, MRS. WITHERELL - were keeping boarders when I came here and I boarded with them. I worked for WM. LASLEY - LASLEY & WOODBURY. You might state in there it was fashionable for everyone to get drunk when I came here. Everybody drank whiskey and everybody had the ague - I think dogs must have had it. After working in the sawmill I went up and worked on the flats. Our foreman on the flats was GILES WOODBURY. I went to Grand Haven but came back in '56 and worked for MORRISON & MORRIS in the sawmill, then went back to Grand Haven again and came back and brought my family with me. I was married in '54 at Spring Lake and of our fifteen children but three are living. "I worked for GIBBS & LUDLOW in the meat market, and in '62 I worked for GIBBS & BURDON, the butchers. In '63 I worked for MATT WILSON and JONATHAN BOYCE - meat business. I was drafted in '64 but I didn't go to war. They wanted better men. The result of the draft was that I went as far as Grand Haven and back. They'd over- drawn on Muskegon township. in '68 I ran a meat mearket myself on Western avenue, busted out in my meat business because I had too many creditors. "When I came here in '52 there were quite a number of Indians. The Indians here were quiet people enough when they were sober. When they were drunk they went to sleep. I never saw an Indian try to hurt anybody. "During the war we could get up a fight mosty anytime on the corner. Nearly anybody that was aching for a fight could find one. We used to go a fishing in those days for amusement. People weren't very quarrelsome. There was only a certain class. "When OLE OLESON was married in '52, right across from where the Albert's mill was burned the other night, we gave them a charivari, serenading them after the wedding supper with bells, old saws and lots of yelling. I never went to a charivari that beat that one, although we didn't do that at all the weddings we attended. The boys that night were pretty full of 'benzine.' They had two or three fights and that ended it. ===============================================================================