{"1": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3294", "width": "2535", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0001.jp2"}, "2": {"fulltext": "Qass\\n;^^7z\\nRr.r k rA l^", "height": "3267", "width": "2452", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0002.jp2"}, "3": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3278", "width": "2321", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0003.jp2"}, "4": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3267", "width": "2452", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0004.jp2"}, "5": {"fulltext": "H f\\nEABLY HISTORY OF LENAWEE CODNTY\\nAND OF THE\\nF11\\nFROM\\nrjvj^^Mi. \u00c2\u00a9siiiii iivD\\nDELIVEltED AT\\noy\\ny\\nMlllanL\\n-=^\u00c2\u00bbT i\u00c2\u00ae-\\nADRIA.N, MICH.\\nTIMES AND KXl OSITOl! STEAM PRINT.\\n1876.\\nr.", "height": "3278", "width": "2222", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0005.jp2"}, "6": {"fulltext": ".1\\nD\\n7\\nf\\n\\\\V", "height": "3282", "width": "2166", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0006.jp2"}, "7": {"fulltext": "UK folldwiiii;- discourse was prepared and delivered at Adrian at a\\neeleliration of the Nation s Centennial Anniversary, in pnrsuance\\nof the following recommendation of Congress and of the Governor,\\nand is pnhlished nnder a resolutidii of the omnion Conneil of the City t f\\n^Vdrian\\nStatk ok MicuioAX, Executive Office,\\nLansing, May 16, 1876. j\\nTo the People of the State of Michigan\\nI have received notice from the ottice of the Dejuirtment of iState, at\\nWashington, of the passage by Congress of the following j(. int resolution:\\nBe it resoloed by the Senate and House of Representatives of the\\nUnited States of America in Congress assembled, That it be, and is hereby\\nrecommended by the Senate and House of Ilej^reseutatives to the ])eople of\\nthe several States, that they assemble in their several counties or towns on\\nthe approaching Centennial anniversary of our National Independence, and\\nthat they cause to be delivered on such a day an historical sketch of said\\ncounty or town from its foundation, and that a copy of said sketch may be\\nfiled, in print or in manuscript, in the Clerk s office of said county, and an\\nadditional copy, in print or manuscript, be filed in the office of the Libra-\\nrian of Congress, to the intent that a comj)lete record may thus be obtained\\nof the progress of our institutions during the first centennial of their exist-\\nence.\\nApprovetl March 13th, 1S76.\\nI earnestly hope that in the celebration of the anniversary of our national\\nindependence in this State, the recommendation may be universally regarded.\\nOur record is yet new and familiar to us, our development and growth is a\\nhistory of continued prosperity, and it is eminently proper, in this Centen-\\nnial year, while recalling with gratitude the beneficence of Divine Providence\\nin His dealings with us, that we should ])ut upon record, for those who are\\nto come after us, the history of a State that in forty years has grown to be\\nan empire with a million and a half of people e lucated in public schools^\\nblest in a common prosperity and united as citizens by a common patriot-\\nism.\\nIn addition to the request of Congress that copies of the sketches be filed\\nin the Library of Congress, and the county records. I suggest that co])ies l)e\\nsent to the State Library at Lansing.\\nI!y the (lovernor, Jonx J. ISaolkv.\\nE. (i. lIoLDEN, Secretary of State.", "height": "3278", "width": "2222", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0007.jp2"}, "8": {"fulltext": "A", "height": "3282", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0008.jp2"}, "9": {"fulltext": "I^mHELLOW CITIZENS For the last ninety-nine years our countrymen\\nf^ liave been wont to celebrate this day to hail its annual return with\\ndemonstrations of rejoicing?, witli the ringing of bells, with bonfires\\nand illuminations, and the roar of artillery, with gatherings of the people,\\nprocessions and orations, and with songs of thanksgiving and jiraise.\\nWe meet to-day as we have so often before, to observe the day in the\\ntime honored way. But the one hundredth (tnnii eri ary the very words\\nsuggest a high distinction, a wide ditference between this and its predeces-\\nsors. It tells us that our experiment of self-government is no longer an ex-\\nperiment, but a success sets the seal of stability and permanence on our in-\\nstitutions, and our Kepnblic, and proves that onr union and government are\\nnot ephemeral, as was in the beginning prophesied by their enemies and\\nfeared even hy their friends.\\nTliere is reason, in view of this, that in the annual discourse which is\\nnsual on the occasion, we shonld depart somewhat from the beaten track.\\nThe Congress of the United States has recommended that the discourse on\\nthis Centennial anniversary shonld be a historical sketch of the county or\\ntown from its formation.\\nTins recommendation has been supported by the President, and the Exec-\\nutive of our own State, and a compliance with it, if general, will be both\\nappropriate and useful.\\nTo this duty which has been assigned to me, that of the historian rather\\nthan the orator, I now address myself for the brief half hour allotted, as-\\nsured that however inadefiuatcly and imperfectly it may be performed, the\\nsubject and the facts cannot fail to interest the citizens at least of our own\\ncounty, and will nut, I trust, l)e entirely witliout interest to our fellow citi-\\nzens from other counties who join with us to-da} And in behalf too of\\nthose who shall come after us, it is well, while the witnesses and\\nactors in the earlier scenes and struggles incident to the settlement of a new\\ncountry are a portion of them still living, to secure from their lips and res-\\n(2)", "height": "3273", "width": "2342", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0009.jp2"}, "10": {"fulltext": "6 HISTORICAL OR ATI OX.\\ncue tiuin the oblivion wliicli a few years more would otherwise throw t)ver\\nthem, an authentic history of those early times.\\nOnr history is not a long one. lie who sketches it has not to go back to\\na remote antiquity. Our beautiful and cherished county, with its poijulation\\nto-day of 47,000, its central city of 1U,000, its 26 townships and wards, and\\nin each of these tow^lships its highly cultivated and productive farms, its nu-\\nmerous and populous and thriving villages, its schools and college, its churches,\\nrailroads, and telegraphs, and its abundant evidences of wealth and comfort and\\nrefinement on every hand, what was it at the l eginning of 1824 i An un-\\nbroken wilderness. Xot a white inhabitant within its Ixiunds. iJut as it\\nthen was, all in its native beauty, untouched Ijy the hand of civilization, uu-\\nmaiTed by cultivation, a fairer, niore beautiful and attractive region, the sun\\nne er shone on. A portion of it, most of the northern, and a part of the\\nsouthern portion, consisting of openings, as they were called in the language\\nof the countrj ^sparsely timbered with tall and beautiful oaks, and for the\\nmost part, in consequence of the annual fires passing over it, free from un-\\nderbrusli, the ground carpeted with a profusion of wild fiowers, the whole\\nlike a beautiful park, through which, without track or path, the immigrant\\ncould drive with his horses or oxen and wagon, for miles in any direction\\nthe remainder a dense forest of various kinds of trees; the surface undxdat-\\nino-, well watered by the Kaisin, the Tiffin, and a multitude of smaller\\nstreams, and gemmed here and there, especially in the northern portion, with\\nbeautiful small, clear lakes it is no wonder that the earlier settlers were en-\\nchanted with the scene, and in their letters to their friends, spoke in glow-\\ning tenns of its beauty and its loveliness.\\nBut the time had come when this fair region was no longer to be left to\\nthe wild men and wild beasts of the forest, hitherto its sole possessors.\\nBy a treaty concluded at Detroit on the 17th of November, 1807, between\\nthe United States and the Ottawa, Chippewa, Wyandotte and Pottawatomie\\nnations of Indians, the Indians ceded to the United States a large tract of\\ncountry in northern Ohio and southeastern Michigan, including the present\\ncounty of Lenawee and by another treaty concluded at Chicago, on the 2ytli\\nof August, 1821, between the United States and the Ottawa, Chippewa and\\nPottawatomie tribes, the Indian title to another extensive tract in Michi-\\ngan, west of the tract first mentioned, and extending to Lake Michigan, was\\nalso extinguished, and the territory in l)oth cases acquired by the United\\nStates by fair pin chase.\\nIn the summer of 1823, Musgrove Evans, of Brownsville, Jefferson Co.,", "height": "3282", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0010.jp2"}, "11": {"fulltext": "HISTORICAL ORATION. 7\\n]S Y., came into the territory to explore, with a view to settlement, and\\nfound his way to the site of the present village of Tecumseh. The tract had\\nbefore this been surveyed and put into market by the I nited States. Mr.\\nEvans, imjiressed with the beauty of the country-, and the ad\\\\antages of that\\nparticular locality, particularly the hydraulic power atibrded by the river\\nRaisin and Evans creek at that point, determined to settle and lay out a\\nvillage there, and to secure and improve this water power. Returning to his\\nhome in New York, he enlisted in his enterprise, his brother-in-law, Joseph\\nAV. Brown, of the same place, afterwards Gen. Brown, now of Cleveland, O.,\\nwho subsequently played a prominent part in the atfairs of the Territory and\\nState, both civil and military, and who still survives in a hale and green old\\nage, to see and rejoice over the wonderful de^\u00e2\u0080\u00a2ek^]1ment and advance in all\\nthe elements of prosperity and greatness of this new county and common-\\nwealth, in which, while yet in the uid^roken solitude c f its wilderness he\\nmade his home, and to the development and growth of which he devoted the\\nprime of his manhood, and in no small degree contributed.\\nMr. Evans returned in the spring of 1824, with Mr. Brown and some ten\\nor twelve others, coming from Butfalo in a schooner, and landing at Detroit,\\nwhei e for the time being he left his family. From thence with packs on\\ntheir backs containing provisions and such necessaries as were required for\\ntheir joiirney, they made their way on foot through the forest to the place\\npreviously selected by Evans, where the village of Tecumseh now stands.\\nIn his first visit to the territory, the fall previous, Evans had met with\\nAustin E. Wing, of Monroe, who had been for several years a resident of\\nthe territory a man of intelligence and influence, who afterwards for several\\nyears represented the territory of Michigan in Congress as its delegate. It\\nwas through his advice and representations of its advantages, that Evans had\\nhis attention turned to the Valley of the Raisin, and especially to the water\\npower at the junction of Evans creek with the Raisin.\\nOn the arrival of Evans and Brown, in the spring of lS2i, a co-partner-\\nship was formed between these three. Wing, Evans and Brown, and they be-\\ncame jointly interested in the enterprise of founding a village, and improving\\nthe water power at the point before mentioned. In anticipation of this, and\\nbefore the return of Evans, Wing had taken up at the Land office, at De-\\ntroit, the west part of section 21, and the east part of section 28, which in-\\ncluded the water power in that portion of Tecumseh now known as Browns-\\nville; and subsecjuentl} after the arrival of Evans and Brown, they took up\\nthe north half of section 34, of the same townshiji.", "height": "3273", "width": "2342", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0011.jp2"}, "12": {"fulltext": "8 HISTORICAL ORATION.\\nOn the 2d uf June of that year (is^^K Evans, having, in tlie meantime\\nl.u.lt a rude log house upon tlie premises, the roof and tier ..f which were\\nmade of bark stripped oft tlie neighboring trees, brought his family, consist-\\ning of a wife and fiye children, with a man named Peter Benson and his\\nwife who were in his employ, from Detroit, and took possession of this lo\\nIn.t. These two were the first white women, and this family the first whit2\\ninhabitants within the bounds ..f Lenawee county and thus the settlement\\not tins large and now populous county was begun.\\nIn this first log house, the pioneer of the^omfortable, substantial, and\\noften spacious and elegant dwellings and mansions which iiuw meet the eye\\noyer the whole county, three families domiciled during tlie winter of ls- j_5\\nMr. Eyans, Mr. Brown, each with a family of fiye children, and Mr Geor..e\\nSpattord and wife, and some ten or twehe men in addition, among them m\\nE. 1-. i,lood, who was one of those that came in ^vith them, and who took\\nup a lot of land in the neighborhood from the government, to cultivate as a\\nfarm, and who continues to reside on the same to this day.\\nIndians were numerous, often visiting and supplying them with berries\\nand the products of the chase, but not a white neighbor nearer than Mon-\\nroe, 33 miles, or a family or two on the Raisin, a few miles abo\\\\e Jklonroe\\nThe Indians, mostly of the Pottawatomie tribe, though at times objects of\\napprehension and fear, especially to the women and children, proved friendly\\nand gave little trouble.\\n_ Here these three families, all accustomed to the comforts, luxuries and re-\\nfinements of civilization and wealth, spent together a not unhappy or cheer-\\nless winter. The weather was mild, and shut out though they were from the\\nrest of the world, a wilderness almost pathless lying between them and Mon-\\nroe, the nearest settlement tu ^yhich they could look for supplies or assist-\\nance, an.l surrunuded by bands of wild Indians, to whose character for\\ntreachery and fer.H-ity, though then ap))arently friendly, these settlers were\\nno strangers\u00e2\u0080\u0094 yet there was much in the wild and romantic beauty of the\\nnative forest, in the novelty and excitement .f the strange life tliey Avere\\nliving, and in the bright hopes of the future, which buoyed them up amidst\\nthe privations and tlie hardships incident to such circumstances and thus\\nthese stout hearted and resolute men, and these not less courageous and no-\\nble women remaine.i. abandoning the comforts and luxuries of their former\\nhomes, and giving themselves to the new enterprise in which they had en-\\nlisted, laid the f.-undations of civilized society and Cliristian iiistituti\u00e2\u0080\u009ens in\\nthis wilderness ..f Southern Michigan.", "height": "3297", "width": "2338", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0012.jp2"}, "13": {"fulltext": "HISTORICAL ORATION. 9\\nA short extract from a letter written about this time by Mr. Evans (who,\\nb} the way, was of the same relictions faith with Wm. Penn), to Mr. Brown,\\nwho had then returned to Brownville for his family, dated Tecumseh, Sth\\nmo., Sth, 1824, will serve to give us a sample of the shifts and devices to\\nwhich these first settlers were often compelled to resort. The letter, after\\nacknowledging the receipt that morning of Brown s letter of the 6th ult.,\\none month after the date, says, among other things The articles thee\\nmentions will all be good here, particularly the stove, as it takes some time\\nalways in a new place to get ovens and chimneys convenient for cooking.\\nWe have neither, yet, and no other way of baking for twenty people but in\\na bake-kettle and the fire out at the door.\\nImmediately after getting upon the ground, this company, Wing, Evans\\nBrown, commenced the erection of a saw mill, which they built and put in\\noperation in the fall of 1824, the first saw mill in the county, and an insti-\\ntution of the highest necessity and value to the infant settlement.\\nTo raise the frame of this mill they were obliged to go to Monroe for as-\\nsistance, and brought from there some forty men.\\nDuring the summer of 1824, a plat of the village was laid out by the pro-\\nprietors. Wing, Evans Brown, and called Tecumseh, after the name of the\\nfierce chieftain, who, though the home of his tribe was far away on the\\nbanks of the Sciota, in southern Ohio, it is said had often with his dusky\\nShawanees visited this locality and made his camping ground in its imme-\\ndiate vicinity and thenceforth the new town, though it did as yet consist\\nof a single log house, had not only an existence but a name.\\nDuring the same season a post-oflice was established here, and Mr. Evans\\nwas the first postmaster.\\nThus the time for a letter by due course of mail, between Brownville, New\\nYork, and Tecumseh, at that time was one month, and the postage twenty-\\nfiye cents.\\n(In the fall of the next year, 1825, the first crop of wheat raised in the\\ncounty was sown by Mr. Jesse Osborn, on a lot taken up Ijy him near the\\n\\\\nllage plat, and a little north of the present residence of Judge Stacy, and\\nwas harvested the next summer, in time to be ground on the fourth of July,\\nat the new grist mill just then erected, and which we shall notice more fully\\npresently, and from the flour of which cake and biscuit were made by Mrs.\\nBrown for the dinner at the celebration that day. This first crop of wheat\\nwas a success. It ripened early and was quite satisfactory, both in quality", "height": "3273", "width": "2342", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0013.jp2"}, "14": {"fulltext": "In HISTORICAL ORATION.\\nand quantity, and proved the soil and climate well adapted to this impor-\\ntant cereal.\\nHaving thus established the first town in the county, this enterprising\\nfirm of Ving. Evans ct Brown, took measures to get the county seat estab-\\nlished there. A petition was sent to the Territorial Governor, Gen. Cass,\\nwho appointed commissioners to examine, select and report a location for the\\nsame. These commissioners located it at Tecumseh, upon the land of this\\nfirm, the northwest quarter of section thirty-four, and upon their report the\\nsame was established as the county seat, by an Act of the Legislative coun-\\ncil, approved June 30, 1824.\\nA somewhat amusing incident, attending this location, is related in one of\\nthe old letters I have seen. When the commissioners fixed upon the site\\nand stuck the stake to mark the place for the Court House, the company\\npresent, among whom was Mr. Wing, swung their hats and gave three lusty\\ncheers. Mr. Wing, in the ardor of his enthusiasm, swung his hat with such\\nemphasis and force that at the last whirl it flew several rods away, leaving\\nin his hand a piece of the brim about the size of a dollar. The writer of\\nthe letter adds that it was an old hat, and probably a little cracked in the\\nbrim.\\nThese proprietors and the citizens of Tecumseh, were naturally much\\nelated, and expected great things for their new town from the location there\\nof the county seat expectations which, however, were destined to be but par-\\ntially realized, as in the progress of events, it was, after the lapse of a few\\nyears, removed to Adrian.\\nUp to the time of which we have been speaking, the county of Lenawee\\nhad not been organized. It was attached to and constituted a part of the\\ncounty of Monroe. It received an independent organization by an act of the\\nLegislative Council, apjmived December 20, 1S26, and was of ample territo-\\nrial limits, having attached to it and made a part of it, for the time being,\\nall the country within the Terrrtorv. to which the Indian title was extin-\\nguished at the treaty of Chicago, before mentioned, its western boundary be-\\ning mostly Lake Michigan, and its northern Grand River, from its source\\nto its mouth.\\nThe name Lenawee is a Shawanee woi-d, meaning Indian.\\nIn the appointment of officers for the new county, Joseph W. Brown was\\ncommissioned by Gov. Cass as Chief Justice of the county court, a position\\nwhich, however, he soon resigned, and was succeeded b Stillman Blanchard.", "height": "3282", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0014.jp2"}, "15": {"fulltext": "HISTORICAL ORATION. 11\\nwlio has deceased at Tecuniseh within the hist year. James Patchin was the\\nfirst sherifi all of Tecuiaseh.\\nThe first townships organized in the county were three, Tecumseh, Logan,\\nand Blissfield. They were organized by an act of the Legislative Council,\\nappro\\\\-ed A]iril 12, 1827, and embraced the whole of the present county\\nTecumseh at the north, Logan in the middle, and Blissfield at the south,\\neach extending across the entire county from east to west.\\nThe three families first mentioned did not long remain the only families\\nin the settlement. The track being opened, they were soon followed by oth-\\ners, and their village soon became a village in fact, and not a mere paper\\ntowni, and the log house was succeeded by more substantial and comfortable\\ndwellings, and here and there in its vicinity, a sturdy pioneer, attracted by the\\nrichness of the soil and manifold advantages for agriculture, had taken up\\na lot for that purpose, and commenced clearing the same for a farm.\\nIn 1836, this company, AVing, Evans Brown, built a grist mill on their\\nsite upon the Raisin, the first in the county, and a great acquisition to the\\nnew settlement, much needed and highly prized. It contained but a single\\ni-un of stones, but sufiiced for grinding for all the inhal)itants of the county\\nfor several years.\\nThe dam raised, and the frame of the mill up, it remained to sup] ly the\\nstones. How this was to be done, was a problem not easy of solution. To\\nprocure and transport a pair of French burr mill stones from the far East,\\nand through the forest from Monroe, or Detroit, to Tecumseh, in the condi-\\ntion the roads were in at that time, would be a heavy expense, and a work\\nof no small difficulty. But these proprietors were not to be baflied. A\\nlarge stone, a rock of granite, was found lying upon the ground, a mile or\\ntwo from the mill, broken into two unequal pieces by the tailing of a tree\\nujjon it. By the aid of a practical miller, Sylvester Blackmar, this stone\\nwas prepared, and made to answer the desired jjurpose, the smaller fragment\\nserving as the upper stone, and the larger as the lower, and answering the\\npurpose very well for several years, and until better ones could be procured.\\nOn the -ith of July of this year, 1826, the inhabitants, with no less pat-\\nriotism in their hearts here in the wilds of Michigan than in older portions\\nof the country, turned out en masse and held at Tecuniseh the first formal\\ncelebration of the day that the county had known ^^just fifty years ago to-\\nday.\\nIn 1S2S, an organization of the militia took place in the county, under\\nthe order v\\\\ Gov. Cass, and Joseph W. Bmwn, afterward (4t n. Brown, was", "height": "3273", "width": "2342", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0015.jp2"}, "16": {"fulltext": "12 HISTORICAL ORATION.\\ncommissioned as Colonel of the reffiinent then formed, bein* the eighth ree-\\ninient uf the Territorial militia.\\nThus this new settlement and new town in the wilderness, and the enter-\\nprise of its first proprietors, moved on and prospered, and bade fair to real-\\nize in full their hopes and expectations.\\nBut the time had now come when Tecuniseh alone was no longer Lena-\\nwee county, and was no longer to enjoy a monopoly of its political, social\\nand commercial advantages. A formidable competitor was just starting in\\nthe race, destined to rival and ultimately to outstrip her.\\nIn the summer of 1S25, Addison J. Comstock, then a young man. with\\nDarius Comstock, his father, of Xiagara county, New York, came into the\\nTerritory with a view of seeking a location. The elder Comstock selected\\nand purchased from the Government a tract in the present townsliip of Rai-\\nsin, at the place kno\\\\vii as the Valley, midway between Tecumseh and Adrian.\\nTlie younger Comstock, in September of that year, purchased and received a\\npatent from the Government for 480 acres of land, on which he subsequently\\nlaid out and platted the village of Adrian, and. comprising the larger portion\\nof the present city of Adrian. This was near, though a little east of the\\ngeographical center of the county that is of the county of Lenawee proper,\\naccording to its present boundaries. Mr. Comstock returning to Xew York,\\nwas married during the following winter to Miss Sarah S. Dean, a daughter\\nof Isaac Dean, of Plielps, Ontario Co., X. Y.\\nIn the spring of 1826 he returned with his bride to take permanent pos-\\nsession of his new purchase, and make a home in the wilderness, as it then\\nwas. Mr. John Gift ord. a man in the employ of Mr. Comstock. with his\\nwife, came witli them. Two log houses, one for each family, were speedily\\nput up by them, into which they moved in August of that year, Mr. Gilford oc-\\ncupying his tii-st by a few days and these two women being the first white\\nfemale residents of Adrian. Mr. Comstock s house was in the oak grove, on\\nthe bank of the river, where Mrs. Chloe Jones now lives, and Mr. Giflbrd s\\nwas in the immediate vicinity. Mrs. Giilbrd is still living, or was recently,\\nin St. Joseph Co., in this State. The other three of these first inhabitants\\nof Adrian are all sleeping beneath its soil. During the same year Mr. Com-\\nstock erected a saw mill on the Raisin, near liis residence, and completed it\\nin November. 1S2H. being the second saw mill in the county. Tlie whole\\npopulation of the south half of the county at this time consisted of seven\\nfamilies, but it si eedily increased by immigration.", "height": "3282", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0016.jp2"}, "17": {"fulltext": "Ills TOE ICAL OHATION. 13\\nThe county lieing organized in IS 26, as before noticed, the first township\\nelection for the township of Loo-an. in wliich Adrian was situated, was held\\nat the house of Darius Conistock, in the Valley, on May 28, 1S27, at which\\nDarius Conistock was elected Supervisor, and Addison J. Corastock township\\nclerk.\\nA letter written by Gen. Brown at this time, bearing date January l-tth,\\n1827, says The Legislative Council have organized three new counties,\\nthis winter, and in none of them was there a white inhabitant in the year\\n1823, and in ours not till June, 1824. This is the youngest and smallest of\\nthe three, and we liave more than Cm inhaliitants. The other two counties\\nreferred to in this letter were Washtenaw and Chippewa.\\nDuring this year, 1827, the first frame dwelling house was erected by Dr.\\nCaleb N. Orrasby, the first physician in Adrian.\\nDid time permit it would be pleasant to take some notice of others of the\\nearlier settlers in Adrian, Noah Norton, James Whitney, the father of two of\\nour well-known citizens of to-day, Elias Dennis and others. But we must\\nforbear, only noticing a few of the more prominent facts and incidents in\\nthe history of this early time.\\nThe original plat of the ^^llage of Adrian was laid out by A. J. Corn-\\nstock, and i-ecorded in the Eegister s office on April 1. 1828. Unlike the\\ninflated paper cities so common in that day, it was modest in its propor-\\ntions and pretensions consisting only of two sti-eets, equal in length, and\\ncrossing at right angles Maumee, extending from the lot where the Gibson\\nHouse now stands, as far east as the present residence of Wm. A. Whitney\\nand the Presbyterian church, and Main, and forty-nine lots in all. From\\nthis it may be inferred that the proprietor at that time had little antic-\\nipation of what his new-founded village was destined to become in the not\\ndistant future.\\nThe same year, 1828, a post-office was established here, with A. J. Corn-\\nstock as postmaster. The following somewhat amusing account given by Mr.\\nComstock, and which I take from a document prepared by him, and depos-\\nited iinder the corner stone of the old Union school house, will serve to\\nshow something of the condition of things in that early day. He says\\nThe same year a post-office was established in Adrian, A. J. Comstock, P.\\nM. The conditions of establishing the office were that the contractor should\\ntake the net revenue of the office for transporting the mail from Adrian to\\nMonroe. The whole receipts of the first quarter, ending March 31, 1829,\\nwas $S.60f. The net revenue to the contractor, after paving expenses of of-\\n(4)", "height": "3273", "width": "2342", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0017.jp2"}, "18": {"fulltext": "U BIS TOXICAL ORATION.\\nlice, IHiJ cents. It sbuukl be remarked that tlie carrying of the mail was not\\nexpensive, as the postmaster took advantage of the ox teams that made reg-\\nular trips to Monroe, and so obtained the mail about every week, as a trip\\nto Monroe and back could be performed in aliout live days when they had\\ngood luck.\\nBut lack of time compels me to pass rajiidly over the history of that early\\nday and the interesting incidents connected with it.\\nThe question of the removal of the county seat from Tecumseh to Adrian\\nbegan very early to Ije agitated, being strongly urged by Mr. Comstock and\\nthe citizens of Adrian. Tecumseh had secured its first location before Adrian\\nhad an existence, and a court house and jail (the latter of logs), had been\\nbuilt there. All the county offices were there, and the political infiuence of\\nthe county centered there, and the larger portion of the population was in\\nand around that town. But immigration began to find its way into the cen-\\ntral and southern portions. In the township of Blissfield a settlement had\\nbeen begun even earlier than in xldrian, Hervey Bliss having moved in there\\nwith his family in December, lS:i4, followed the next year and the year fol-\\nlowing by several other families.\\nFrom the first settlement of Adrian this question of the county seat be-\\ncame a matter of contention and strife between the neighboring towns au\\nunhap])y controversy, engendering bitter feelings at the time, kept up for a\\nseries of years, and terminating not until 1836, when bj an Act of the Leg-\\nislature, under the new- State government, it was removed to Adrian, and\\nthe question was put at rest. The removal by the terms of the Act was not\\nto take ettect. however, until the first Monday of Xovember, 1S3S.\\nThe defeat that Tecumseh sufl^ ered in this was not owing to an}- lack of eilbrt\\npr lack of ability on the part its leading men. A high degree of liotli was\\nabundantl} manifest in the conduct of the controversy. They only yielded\\nto the inevitable. It was the advantage of position alone which secured the\\nvictory to its rival. Adrian being central, while Tecumseh was tar to the\\nnorth and east of the centre, it was not difiicult to see from the first that\\nthe removal was only a question of time.\\nIt was nut until ls: S, when a jail having been built at Adrian, the courts,\\nwhich U]) to that time, in pursuance of the Act, had been held in Tecumseh,\\ncommenced to hold theii sessions at Adrian, and the removal was complete.\\nThe new court house was Ituilt at Adrian the next year, 1S39, on the lot\\nadjoining the jail Int. on land donated for that ])uri)ose by Mr. Comstock,", "height": "3282", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0018.jp2"}, "19": {"fulltext": "HISTORICAL ORATION. 15\\non the east side nf Clinton street. This renio\\\\-al coiitrihuted n(.it a little to\\nthe growth and prosjieritv of Adrian.\\nBut to go back again to earlier times. The publication of the Lenawee\\nEepiiblican and Adrian Gazette, the first newspaper in the county, was com-\\nmenced in October, 1834, bj E. AV. Ingals, who still resides here. This pa-\\nper was neutral in ]3olitics, but after a few months was changed to the\\nAdrian Watchtower, Democratic, and as such, its publicatit)n was continued\\nuntil 1865, for many years as a weekly, and afterwards both weekly and\\ndaily Mr. Ingals retaining his connection with it until near the close.\\nAn enterprise second to no other in its importance and effect upon the\\nearh growth and development of Adrian and the country about it, extending\\nfar into the interior and western portion of the State, was the Erie Kala-\\nmazoo railroatl, projected and built at a very early day from ^Vdrian to To-\\nledo, then Port Lawrence.\\nThe importance of this work, and the magnitude of the umlertaking, con-\\nsidering the time and circumstances nnder which it was undertaken, have\\nbeen by few fully appreciated. It was undertaken and accomplished Ijy a\\nfew men of moderate means at Adrian and Port Lawrence, l)0th then new\\nsettlements, at a time when there not only was not a railroad in Michigan,\\nbut none west of Lake Erie nay, not one, or but one, in all New England,\\nor (west of Schenectady), in New York. They were at that time a new thing,\\nbut recently introduced into this country. There was the road between Al-\\nbany and Schenectady, the lirst link in the chain of the present New York\\nCentral, and run by stationary engines and liorse poAver, and there were short\\nroads in some portions of Pennsylvania. But in all the west such a thing\\nas a railroad was unknowji.\\nNecessity was no doubt the mother of the enterprise. The new and grow-\\ning village of Adrian and all the new settlements in tiie county wei-e sepa-\\nrated and cut off from communication with the older portions of the coun-\\ntry, except by a track cut through a dense forest, and much of the time al-\\nmost impassable, even with oxen, to Monroe, thirty miles, or a like road\\nand distance to Port Lawrence, or the longer route to Deti-oit. Port Law-\\nrence was situated upon the navigable waters connected with Lake Erie, and\\nwhen that was i-eached there was ready access to the rest of the world. Te-\\ncmnseh, then or soon after, had its La Plaisance Bay turnjiike, opened l)y\\nthe general government, and constituting a good highway to the lake at\\nMonroe. Adrian, unaided by the government, conceived the idea of a rail-\\nroad, to be built by private enterprise, which sliuuld open easy connnnnica-", "height": "3273", "width": "2342", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0019.jp2"}, "20": {"fulltext": "It; HISTORICAL ORATION.\\ntil HI with navigable waters; and the outside world. A few men at Adrian\\nand its vicinit} anionic whom maj be named Darins Ctmistock, Addison J.\\nComstock, George Crane, E. C. Winter, Caleb N. Ornisbj and Joseph Gib-\\nbon, together with a few at Port Lawrence, entered actively into tliis enter-\\nprise and carried it snccessfully through, in the face of dithculties and dis-\\ncouragements that similar enterpi ises rarely have had to contend with. A\\ncliarter for the road was obtained from the Legislative Council of Michigan,\\nin April, 1833. authorizing the construction of a railroad from Poi-t Law-\\nrence to Adrian, and thence to such point on the Kalamazoo river as the\\nconi] any might select, the original project being to make the Kalamazoo the\\nultimate terminus, though that portion of the route west of Adrian was sub-\\nsequently abandoned. Books of subscription for the stock were opened at\\nAdrian, in March, 1834, and the amount required to organize the company,\\nbeing \u00c2\u00a750.000, the whole capital, by the terms of the Act, being \u00c2\u00a71,000,000,\\nwas soon subscribed, and the company was fullj orgauized in May of that\\nyear, and immediately entered upon the work.\\nIt was not at first contem])lated to run locomotives ujion the road, but it\\nwas constructed with wooden rails, with a view to run by horse power, and\\nfor a time it was so run. It was finished so that the cars commenced ruu-\\nnintr between Port Lawrence and Adrian in 1S36. It continued to run bv\\nhorse power nntil June of 1837, when the wooden rail gave place to an iron\\nstrap rail, and the horses were superseded by a locomotive.\\nThe opening of this i-oad formed a new era. It accomplished all and\\nmore than was anticipated from it b}^ its enterprising projectors, and gave a\\nnew impetus to the growth and prosperity t)f Adrian, and the settlement and\\ndevelopment of the surrounding country drawing to it for shipment the\\ngrain and produce, and attracting the trade, of a wide extent of country\\nnorthward and westward and soutliward for a time, especially westward\\nand southward, e\\\\en beyond the limits of the State, though this, of course,\\nhas since been greatly restricted by the opening of other roads :ui l new\\nchannels of trade and commerce, elsewhere.\\nUp to tliis time a journey from Adrian to New York could be accom-\\nl)lished with diligence in about three weeks. It now takes 27 hours. Our\\nfellow-townsman, Abel Wliitney, Esq., informs me that in March, 1837, he\\nmade this journey going from Adrian to Toledo by this new railroad, tlicn\\nrun by Iiokm ]io\\\\vcr. thence bj stage to Cleveland, and thence over the route\\ntlirough Central Pennsylvania, using the best facilities the jniblic conveyances\\naiibrded, a iiart of the way for short distances by railway, a part by canal,", "height": "3282", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0020.jp2"}, "21": {"fulltext": "HISTORICAL ORATrON. 17\\nual, and the reinaimler I)y stage, and reaching Xew York tliree weeks tVoni\\nthe time Ije left home. This, of course, was at a season of the year when\\nTiavigation on Lake Erie was not open.\\nThe Erie A: Kalamazoo road became snbse(|nently and is now a section of\\nthat great thoroughfare, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, hav-\\ning in 1S49 been leased by the company for the whole unexpired time of its\\ncharter to the Michigan Southern Northern Lidiana II. li. Co., subse-\\nquently incorporated into the L. S. M. S. Ry. Co.\\nThis pioneer railroad was soon followed by another, of greater extent and\\nmore important to the country at large, if not to Adrian. The Michigan\\nSouthern R. R. was laid out by the State, to be constructed as a State work,\\nfrom Lake Erie, at Monroe, to Lake Michigan, running through the county\\nof Lenawee. This road was completed from ]Monroe to Adrian in 1839, and\\nto Hillsdale in 18-13, and was operated by the State until in ISIH it was\\nsold to the M. S. R. R. Co. then incorporated.\\nAnother contest arose between Adrian and Tecumseh in respect to the\\nroute of this road two lines being projected, one running through Adrian\\nand the other through Tecumseh. A high degree of interest was felt in this\\nquestion, each town being of course naturally anxious to secure to itself its\\nlocation. Tlie commissioners decided finalh to lay it through Adrian, and it\\nwas so constructed, and its advantages secured to the latter town. A con-\\nnection with this road was, however, subsequently secured to Tecumseh by\\nthe construction of the Jackson branch of the same, running through that\\ntown.\\nIn 1836 Adrian was iiicorporated as a village by an act of the Legislature,\\nand on the 31st of January, 1853, it was in like manner incorporated as a\\ncity, with four wards, and so it still remains.\\nThis imperfect sketch of some of the leading facts in the history of our\\nbeautiful city, ought not to close without an allusion at least to some inter-\\nests of a higher nature than its material advantages. Its commodious and\\nelegant churches Congregational, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist,\\nLutheran and Catholic its college, with its eleven professors and tutors, and\\nnear two hundred stiidents its public schools, with its Central and four branch\\nor ward school houses, unsurpassed in comfort, convenience and elegance, and\\nin all their appointments, by any town in the land, and the schools, in their\\nthorough and liberal course of instruction, in the character of their teachers,\\nand in all that is desirable in institutions of this kind, equalled by few and", "height": "3273", "width": "2342", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0021.jp2"}, "22": {"fulltext": "18 HISTORICAL ORATION.\\nexcelled by none its two daily and three weekly newspapers all these and\\nothers are well worth} of a more extended notice than it is possible to give\\nthem in the limited time at our disposal.\\nNor ought we to pass over other portions of the county without some no-\\ntice, though necessarily very brief.\\nThe settlement of the town of Blisslield, as we have before noticed, was\\nalmost cotemporaneous with that of Tecumseh, the first inhabitant, Mr. Bliss,\\nlocating there in December, 1824, and being followed the next year by two\\nor three other families, and the year following by still more. It now has\\nthe thriving and important village of Blissfield, and is a populous and wealthy\\ntownshiji.\\nIn 1833 the first opening was made in the present township of Seneca, by\\nGershum Bennett and Francis Hagaman, putting up the first log cabin in\\nthe extreme southern portion of the county. The flourishing village of Mo-\\nrenci is situated in this township.\\nIn the same year the first settler located himself in the present to\\\\vnship\\nof Hudson^Hiram Kidder.\\nIn the north-western portion of the county, the township of Cambridge,\\nwith its high, rolling surface and its clear streams and beautiful lakes, the\\nfirst actual settler was Charles Blackmar, in 1829. Its charming lakes early\\nattracted people of culture and taste, as settlers, and have ever since made\\nit a favorite resort, as it continues to be, during the summer season, of large\\nnumbers who go to enjoy the quiet loveliness of its lakes, and to bathe and\\nfish in their clear waters.\\nThese first settlers in all the towns we have mentioned (and the same is\\ntrue, probably, of most or all the remaining towns), almost without excep-\\nception emigrated from the State of New York, which noWe State has fur-\\nnished by far the larger part of the immigration during the whole period of\\nits settlement. The New England States and other northern States, howev-\\ner, have contributed liberally, and we have in addition quite a large element\\nof the better class of European emigrants, English, Scotch, Irish and Ger-\\nman. It is safe to say that no county at the west can boast a better class\\nof immigrants, and few, after the immigration once set in, have filled up\\nmore rapidly. The population, according to the census of 1874, just fifty\\nyears after the first settler entered its bounds, was 4:(),084, being the fourth\\ncounty in point of population in the State.\\nIn character with the New York and New England origin of the early\\nsettlers, the school house and the church have gone up in the new settlements", "height": "3282", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0022.jp2"}, "23": {"fulltext": "HISTORICAL ORATION. l!\u00c2\u00bb\\nalmost siimiltaiieously with the tir.st loi; cabins, and no county of the west,\\nnot its superior in aij^e, is better supplied with both, or with those of a bet-\\nter character the architecture and surroundings of the school liouses, and\\nthe arrangements for the comfort and convenience of tlie pupils, as well in\\nthe rural portions of the county as in the towns, being in man}- cases highly\\ncreditable to the taste and judgment of the inhabitants, and not inferior to\\nthose of any other portion of the country. Much attention has been given\\nto make the school house, where the children are taught, attractive and pleas-\\nant, as they should be, and in this respect there has been a large advance\\nwithin the last twenty-tive years and the school houses of the present day\\nare very unlike the bare and unattractive ones in which many of us were\\ntaught.\\nBut we have said nothing as yet about the wars in which the county has\\nbeen involved, exce])t the war about the county seat, and in that no blood\\nwas shed. Other wars it has had, calling its martial population into the field\\nonce and again, though fortunately these last mentioned wars in the end\\nturned out, as far as they were concerned, as bloodless as the first. The\\nfirst was the Black Hawk war of 1832.\\nThere was great alarm through the scattered settlements of M-ichigan, when\\nintelligence came by a messenger sent by the Indian agent at Chicago, and\\nthrough other channels, that the Indians, the Sacs and Foxes, under the\\nnoted Black Hawk, had collected in lai-ge numbers in the vicinity of Fox\\nRiver, and had commenced hostilities, that they were making their way east-\\nward, murdering the white inhabitants and threatening Chicago, at that time\\nan insignificant trading post, though jirotected by a fort; with a strong prob-\\nability that if that fell into their hands they would continue their way east-\\nward through the feel)le settlements in noi-thern Indiana and Michigan to\\nCanada.\\nA request was made by the agent at Chicago that a force of militia of\\nMichigan might be sent speedily to their assistance for their protection until\\naid could be procured from the IT. S. forces.\\nMany exaggerated stories of the depredations and atrocities of the Indians\\ncame through other channels.\\nIt is difficult for us at the present time, in the security of our homes, and\\nhappily M itliout experience of danger from hostile savages, to realize the de-\\ngree of excitement and alarm which these rumors, growing as they went,\\nand magnifying the forces of the Indians and the number of their victims,\\nproduced among the scattered and e.xposed settlements of the frontier, at that", "height": "3273", "width": "2342", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0023.jp2"}, "24": {"fulltext": "20 HISTORICAL ORATION.\\ntime. It was ijreatly feared, too, tliat tlie Indians of our own section, the\\napparent!}- friendly Pottawatomies, might be induced to join the league, and\\nmake common cause witli their red brethren against the whites. Who could\\nlie down at night with the assurance that they would not at the midnight\\nhour be aroused by the terrible war-whoop, and awake to tiud their dwell-\\nings in flames, and the deadly rifle or the tomahawk and scalping knife of\\ntheir merciless savage foe gleaming in the light The inhabitants of Chi-\\ncago, many of them, took refuge in the fort, and many isolated families in\\nthe new settlements of Indiana and Michigan, forsook their homes and sought\\nsecurity elsewhere.\\nThe pioneers of the Raisin Valley and of southern Michigan were no cow-\\nards. Gen. Brown was at that time in command of the Third Eritrade of\\nMichigan militia, embracing several regiments in Lenawee and the counties\\nwest of it as far as Niles. Without waiting for an order from the Territo-\\nrial Governor (which, however, came soon after), upon the receipt of this iu-\\ntelligenee and the call of the Indian agent, he issued an order calling out\\nthe regiments in his brigade and ordering them to rendezvous as speedily as\\npossible at Niles. The order was promptly responded to Ijy the Eighth reg-\\niment. Col. Wm. McXair, composed of inhabitants of the valley of the Kai-\\nsin, one company from Adrian, two from Tecumseh, and one from Clinton,\\nand it took up its line of march from Tecumseh by way of the Chicsigo\\nturnpike, through Jonesville, Coldwater and yturgis, to Xiles, where the\\nother regiments of the brigade were also assembled.\\nTo rescue Chicago would be the most eifectual way to protect their own\\nliomes and loved ones. It was better to meet the enemy before he entered\\ntheir borders, than to wait and meet him at their own doors. In the order\\nissued by Gen. Bi-own to Col. McNair occur these words, which I cannot\\nforbear to (juote Take no man with you who is not a volunteer. Let\\nthe timid return to their homes. The order was promulgated upon the j)a-\\nrade of the regiment at Tecumseh, and those who did not choose to volun-\\nteer were directed to advance four paces in front. Not a man left the\\nranks.\\nThe details of that e.xpedition and of the war canudt be given here. Suf-\\ntice to say that a force from the regular army under Gen. Atkinson suc-\\nceeded in overpiiwering the Indians before they reached Chicago, capturing\\nBlack ILiwk and putting an end to the war without the aid of our militia.\\nOrders were received by Gen. Brown at Niles to disband the forces under\\nhis command, and the Lenawee regiment being Imnin-ably discharged, and", "height": "3282", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0024.jp2"}, "25": {"fulltext": "HISTORICAL ORATION. 2I\\nwitli the thanks of tlie command iiig general for tlie jironiptness and alacrity\\nwitli wliich they had responded to tlie call, and the faithfnl performance of\\nduty, returned to their homes, where they were warmly welcomed their ab-\\nsence liaving deprived the settlements f..r tlie time being of most of their\\neftective men, and leaving them (juite defenceless in case of an attack fr.^m\\nthe Indians, which they feared.\\nOf the men who went in this expedition two deserted\u00e2\u0080\u0094 all the rest re-\\nmained true and showed their readiness to meet the savage foe, though\\nhappily they were spared the necessity. The men received from the United\\nStates one month s pay and 160 acres of land each.\\nTlie other ^^\u00e2\u0080\u00a2ar in which the county was in\\\\ol\\\\-ed, was the one known as\\nthe Toled(j war. This, it will be remembered, was a contest in l,s;35, be-\\ntween Michigan, jnst then preparing to undergo its transformation frJm a\\nTerritory to a State, and the older and more powerful State of Ohio, for the\\npossession of a strip of land, some eight miles in width at the east end and\\nfive miles at the west, on the southern border of Michigan, embracing of\\nconrse, a portion of our g,.,,dly connty of Lenawee, as well as the portlind\\nsite of the present city of Toledo.\\nBy the ordinance of 1787, the Magna Charta of that vast territory ceded\\nby Virginia to the United States, lying northwest of the Ohio, out of which\\nthe great States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin have\\nbeen successively formed. Congress was authorized to form one or two States\\nin that portion of the country lying north of an east and west line dra^ni\\nthrough the southerly bend or extreme of Lake ]\\\\Iichigan\u00e2\u0080\u0094 thus establishing\\nthat line as the southern boundary of such States and it was provided that\\nwhenever any of said States should have 60.000 free inhabitants therein, such\\nState should be admitted into the Union ,m an equal footing with the orig-\\ninal States, and should be at liberty to form a permanent constitution and\\nState government.\\nBy an act of Congress passed in 1805, the Territory of Michigan was or-\\nganized, with a Territorial government, making its southern lionndarv the\\nline before mentioned, and it was enacted that the inhabitants of the Terri-\\ntory sliould enjoy all the rights and privileges secured by the ordinance\\naforesaid.\\nThe mouth of the Maumee and the disputed territory were north of this\\nhue. and of course within the limits of Michigan. But Ohio, when she came\\nt.. h.i-m a State government, by her constitution adopted another line as her\\n(6)", "height": "3273", "width": "2342", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0025.jp2"}, "26": {"fulltext": "22 HlHTOlilVAL ORATION.\\nnorthern boumlarv, so as to include within lier l)()nnilaries the territorv in\\nquestion.\\nThe details of this controversy cannot be given here. It would re [uire\\ntoo much time, and it belongs to the history- of the State rather than of tJiis\\ncounty, though the county was directly interested and deeply invuhed in it.\\nBoth Michigan and Ohio claimed the territory-, and each called out a force\\nof militia to enforce its claim to the possession of the same.\\nThe force of Michigan, some 1,200 or 1,500 strong, a portion of them from\\nthis county, was under the command of Brig. Gen. Brown, in whose ability\\nand discretion Acting Governor Mason manifested his confidence by select-\\ning him for this delicate and responsible duty.\\nThey marched to Toledo and held possession of the same for several weeks.\\nThe force of Ohio was also encamped in the neighborhood, and hos-\\ntilities seemed imminent, but no actual fighting took place. Many amusing\\nand ludicrous incidents occurred, so that after the atiair was over it came to\\nbe regarded as a farce, though at the time threatening very serious conse-\\nquences.\\nAfter remaining in this hostile attitude for a t^v weeks, the military forces\\non both sides wei-e withdrawn, and the matter left to the decision of Con-\\ngress.\\nTlie result was that Ohio, iiifluential and powerful with her twelve votes\\nin Congress, prevailed against her younger and weaker sister Michigan, with\\nher single delegate, and he without the right of voting; and before Congress\\nwould admit her into the Union as a State, she was required to assent to\\nthe change in her lioundaries, and to adopt the Iwundary claimed by Ohio\\nbut in order to make her some amends the Northern Peninsula, then no\\npart of Michigan, was ofi ered her.\\nMichigan at first rejected this overture. A convention called to act upon\\nit refused to give the assent recpiired. Her peoi)le at the time felt keenly\\nupon the subject. They felt that her right to the territory, under the ordi-\\nnance and under the Act of Congress of 1805, was unciuestionable and there\\nare few, in this State at least, who have examined the (juestion, that do not\\nregai-d it so to this day.\\nBut this decision of the convention of Michigan did not finally prevail.\\nA large and influential portion of the citizens, some from ])ublic considera-\\ntions, and others, perhaps, from private reasons, thought it highly desirable\\nthat the State should be si)eedily admitted into the Tnion. Another conven-\\ntion was called, not bv the Governor or by any legal authority, but by tlie", "height": "3282", "width": "2260", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0026.jp2"}, "27": {"fulltext": "HISTORICAL ORATION. 23\\nDemocratic Central Comiiiittee, requesting the people in the several town-\\nships to elect delegates. The convention met, and in the name of the people\\nof the State, gave the required assent. This, after considerable discussion,\\nwas accepted by Congress as a compliance with the condition, and the State\\nwas admitted by an act passed on the 2Tth of January, 1837, and thus the\\ncontroversy ended.\\nThe people of Michigan were ill satisfied at the time, being little aware\\nof the mineral value of the Upper Peninsula which they acquired in lieu of\\nthe strip surrendered. But the subsequent development of that region has\\nshown that the}- got an ample equivalent, and that the bargain, though in a\\nmanner forced upon them, turned out to be not a bad one for Michigan.\\nAnother incident or two and we will end this imjierfect sketch, already\\ntoo long for this occasion, though there are materials at hand to till a vol\\nume.\\nThe Court House, erected in Adrian in 1839, as before mentioned, and\\ncontaining the county offices, was destroyed by fire, March l-tth, 1852, and\\nwith it all the records of the County Clerk s office, though fortunately the\\nvaluable records of the County Register and County Treasurer were sa\\\\-ed.\\nThe Court House has never been rebuilt, and from that time, twenty-four\\nyears, the county has had none very much to the inconvenience and not-\\nmuch to the credit of so large and populous and wealth}- a county. The\\ncourts have been held in difi erent places temporarily provided for them, first\\nin t)ne hall and then in another, and for a number of years in an old aban-\\ndoned church.\\nFellow citizens, my task as historian is done.\\nAs during the century past, the United States as a people, a nation, have\\nso marvelously, under the favor of Providence, grown and increased in all\\nthe elements of greatness and power, extending itself and its poj^ulation from\\nthe narrow strip along the Atlantic, which it occupied in 1770, by a wide\\nand magnificent belt across the heart of the entire continent to the Pacific\\nand as our own county has, on its smaller scale, during the half century, in\\nlike manner grown and developed and increased to take its place in the fore-\\nmost rank of the counties of our own State, and to rival niDst of the agri-\\ncultural counties in the older portions of the country, let us hope that the\\nfuture has still greater things in store for us. Let us cherish union, and\\nset our faces against everything calculated to create sectional strife and dis-\\nsensions.\\nHushed be the voice of ])arty, and the noise of party sti ife this day. at", "height": "3273", "width": "2342", "jp2-path": "earlyhistoryofle00mill_0027.jp2"}, "28": {"fulltext": "2+ IIJiSTOlUCAL ORATION.\\nleast, as we join togethei- in its celel)rati(.ii as one people, having a common\\ninterest in that which it comniemoi ates^]iaj)]iy that at tlie end of one Innulred\\nyears the goodly heritage whicli onr fathers beqneathed to ns remains unim-\\npaired for ns to transmit to those that come after us that our government\\nour institutions, and our union have survived the shock of war, foreign and\\ndomestic, and the perhaps still greater danger from corruption within.\\nAs Loth the great political parties have united to put down treason and\\nrehelliou, so let both parties and all parties unite to rebuke corruption wher-\\never found, in whatever party. 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