Recollections Of Old Times

About sixty-three years ago this present month, and about the 20th of the month, or in other words, in the month of June, 1832 the re might liave been seen an emigrant wagon drawn by a pair of sleek brown oxen (which were very gentle and kind) wending its way upon the north road leading from Ann Arbor to Dexter. This wagon contained a partial load of goods and two ladies. The ladies occupied a very comfortable seat in the front part of the wagon prepared expressly for them, the eider of which was considerably past the meridian of life and the other was a young lady about eighteen years of age. The oxen were driyen by a young man about 22 years of age, and it was the first effort of the kind he bad ever made in bis life. By the side of said emigrant wagon, a part of the time riding and a part walking, was an elderly gentleman and two little boys one nine and the other twelve years of age. This emigrant wagon contained the father and mother sister and brothers of your humble speaker and I was the the eider of the two little boys. We ended our journey about twelve o'clock on the 20th day of June 1832 by stopping at the house of Horace Leek who kept, at that time, a sort of hotel where Mr. John Helber now resides, about three miles east of Dexter village. The land [for our new home had already been located the previous autumn by my eider brother, and is now known as the Columbus Waite farm about two and a half miles east of Dexter. I would not wish to be understood that we made all the journey from central New York with oxen. We brought a wagon with us and bought oxen in Detroit, and with their assistance we made the journey from Detroit liere. I have a very distinct recollection of the next morning after our arrival at Mr. Leeks that my sister asked me if I would not like to take a walk up to the place that was to be our future home, I said I would and we walked up togather. The place was in a perfect state of nature never having had anything done upon it until that morning when my father and brother had preceeded us and commenced chopping logs for a house. The scène was beautiful beyond desciiptiou. The timberconsistedof large white oak trees standing several rods apart and the intermedíate space between them was covered with bright green grass and beautiful flowers. The whole country had been burnt over by the Indians every fall or spring I presume for centuries and every thing had been destroyed except these giants of the forest. It did appear as if one half of the vegetation were flowers. The most of them were about eighteen inches high and when moved by the wind the effect was wonderful. I have never seen in any of our large 'cities a park that was its equal. A few days after our arrival here I went back north from where my father was building bis house to the Huron river which was about one half mile distant. The river appeared much larger than it is now and I was surprised at its beauty and the scenery upon its banks. It was well stocked with fine fish and was a great resort for deer at evening. It is true on its bosom no proud ships were sailing, No large pulïing steamers appeared to our view. Audvetits bright waters were quite as deligMful As rivera wuose broad windiug course they pursuu. At the point where I reached the river .was quite a large Iudian planting ground where the dusky maiden liad perhaps for centuries attended her favorito cora. At the upper end of this planting ground and upon the immediate bank of the river was an Indian cemetery where many braves and ut least one chief had been buried. The rows of corn in the cornfield were regular but not at rightangles. But Michigan as a territory in a state of nature, with all its beauty, its nobleness and grandeur contained no bread. This must be secured by the willing hearts andgood.right arms of the pioneers in changing the forests into beautiful iields, to ricli plantations of nistling corn and the golden robes of the wheat flelds. And well their work was done. And so it was made possible that their children and thosè coming after them could keep the rich rewards of their useful and industrious lives. On account of my youth my acquaiutance was not very extensivo except in our own neighborhood, and in the village of Dexter where I attended school in the winter. Dexter had a merchant by the name of Cowden, and our venerable friend Mr. Dennis Warner, who is present with us here to day, was his clerk. It also had a blacksmith in the person of Judge Crane. Tlie blacksmith was perhaps the most useful mechanic iu the country, for we depended upon hiin almost entirely for our plows and on our plows we depended for our bread. Dexter had a physian iu the persou of Dr. Syril Xiehols, who was au expert in handling billious fevers and agues, the prevailing diseases of the country. Judgo Dexter then resided here in a house that is still standing near the river. He was a good man in every sense of the word and was beloved and respected by every person who kuew him, and mauy of the pioneers wheu overtaken by sickness or misfortune, recievedfrom hiin substantial assistance. He often rode up to our door and had a few minutes conversation with my fatlier as he went back and forth to Ann Arbor. There was no fence to prevent bis too near approach. Judge Dexter was a tempranee man and practiced what he preached. The judge always rode a large chestnut horse with a white face, uo carriage in those day 8, and but few of the pioneers had wagons. They made carts, however, by sawing wheels off the butts of large trees and putting an axle and tongue in them, and they answered yery well to go to mili and for other domestic purposes and in an emergency they would do to go to church. Xo anstocracy in t.hose days, you know ; but the men and the women that could and did do the most good with the means at their command, were the ones that had precedence. The memorable George C. Page came to this territory in 1832 and to Dexter soon after where he has since resided, occupying many positions of trust and responsibility and it gives us great pleasure to see his genial face here today. Dexter had a postoffice where we paid twenty-five cents for every letter we received. There came to this territory in the month of July, 1832, from Cape Ann in Masachusetts a man by the name of Capt. Elias Hayes with his family wliich consisted of bis wife, one son and one daughter. His daughter, however, had preceeded him several years, having come with her unele, Capt. Dix, in 1825, after which Dixborough was named. Captain Hayes was a sailor and sea captain. He had followed the seas from his youth. He located an eighty acre lot of land adjoining my father's on the Ann Arbor road. He let the job of building his house to a Mr. Thomas Sill who resided here in Dexter at that time. I recollect of Mr. Hayes coming down to our house and introducing himself as Capt. Hayes, said he had located the lot adjourning my father, had let the job of building his house and as soon as it was completed he was going to take possession and be a neighbor. My father expressed himself as being much pleased to have a ueighbor so near, and asked the captain what kind of a house he was going to build. The Captain spoke of his house as he would a ship. He said she was to be built after the most approved modle, her bulwarks were to be made of quite large trees. She was to be seven feet lower deck and flve feet upper deck. Capt. Hayes had had a very beautiful life, he had followed the seas from the time he was twelve years old, had visited nearly every country on the globe. He ran a privateer in the war of 1812 with Great Bridan and took many prizes. He said on one occasion he came near being captured by a British man of war dressed in disguise to which he ran dangerously near before he discovered his mistake, but his ship was a fast sailor and they made their escape. Capt. Hayes had been taken twice by pirates while in the mere bant service On one occasion they left them only provisions to last a week but they were so divided as to last a month instead of a week before the expiration of which time they feil in with a friendly vessel and were relieved. Mis. Hayes (whose maiden name was Tucker) was a daughter of a brave captain in the Revolutionary army and she exhibited with much pride a brace of brass pistols with flint locks which she said were presented to her father by Gen. George Washington for meritorious conduct in battle. I saw these pistols on two occasions, one of them had iwo deep sword cuts on the barrel, one on a diagonal and the other at right angles. The venerable lady Mrs.Sidney Smith, the daughter of Capt. Hayes and mother of Mrs. Foster Litchfleld, S4 years of age, is present with us here to day, a living illustration of the noble pioneer of others that have gone before. 1832 was the year that the Black Hawk war prevaüed in Illinois and many people feared that it rnight extend to this territory, but Black and his warriors were soon captured and the people, even here, slept better nights. The Potowatamie Indiana were quite plenty here in 1832-3, but they were not troublesome except when they had been drinking liquor and then they behaved very much like their white brothers uuder similar circumstances. I recollect on one occasion a very large nurnber of them passed our house (said to be twelve hundred) on their way to Canada to receive their presenta. The Britisli government at that tirne made presents to the Inclians annually at Ft. Malden, abouttwenty miles below Detroit, Tle place is now called Amlierstbiirg. They were very expert with the bow and arrow and in throwing the tomahawk, but they were not what we wpuld cali good shots with a gun, in fact their gune were of very poor quality. They liad instrumenta for calling both turkeys and deers to them, and their game was taken more by stealth than skill. There were not very many Indians here after '32, but we often saw a few and they generally wanted to swap something. Their stock in trade generally consisted of deer skins, smoked hams, cranberries and wild honey. The early pioneers of Michigan were a very indnstrious class of citizens but they never would have succeeded as they did had it not been for their most excellent wives, and I have often wondered how tbose -noble matronly mothers, under such adverse circumstances, with ahnost no conveniences at all at first for the management of their domestic affairs, could always appear so cheerful and pleasant, never complaining. Bnt I have heard them say, and they said itvery pleasantly, that the darkest of the nigbt was just before day. I think if St. Paul could have seen these noble self-sacrificiiig women, he would have had a more favorable opinión of matrimony. In fact: If Paul had been a pioneer, And had our forest lands to clear. And had old fashioued ague shake hiin, And bilious fever overtake hiin ; With no one near to soothe nis woes, Or hold the camphor to his nose, He would have said, "I do declare, I must have been mistaken there."