Ann Arbor's Early Days

The Stockbridge Sun teüs of the deatli of a íormer Ann Arbor pioneer and relat-es a great deal of lier history. that will lx; read wtth great interest by many oí our older uubsoribers : Mrs. Lathrop, whose malden name was Hall. was bom in Pompey, '. Y., Sept. 1S07 ; and she d:ed at the home of her daughter, Mrs. John Gibbins, on Sunday Dec. 29, 1895, being in her 89tli year. She was married to George I Lftthrop, Sept. 23rd, 182S, and in the same year, she and her husband came to what was then the territory of Michigan. Mr. Lathrop died iour years ago ; the worthy couple havins shared lie's }oys and eorrows together ior over 60 years. Toree years befo re their marriage, Mr. Lathrop had visited Michigan, and located eighty acres of land, two and one-half miles east of Ann Arbor, on the Bixboro road ; and it was to traild a home hewd out of the wilderness upon this location., that they turned their backs upon Genesee county of the Empire state, and presed resolutely westward into the trackless wilderness of malarial Michigan. The future, wlth its roseate hues, was all beiore them ; and' their young Btrong hearts throbbed in unisón with the desire to begin li.'e's strugg'e for poeition, respecfcability and competency. Wagons were the on'y mode oí travel iu those days, and two days were consumed in gettlng from Batavia to Búllalo. Owing to a violent storm they were detained two days in Buffalo. When the storm subsided, the captain saüed out of port, headed for Detroit. On the voyage they were robbed of $500 but the thief fai'.ed to secure $200 wbich Mr. Lathrop had in his trunk. After a tempestuous trip they reached Detroit, a snihil muddy iovn at that time, peopled principal'y by the French. They secured a team at the expense of $10 to take thein through the woods to Ann Arbor; and after two daj-s travel over bad roads. tliey arrived at the end of their journey. Go back in imngiiiation 68 years, anil picture to yourselves the site of Ann Arbor thenj Little did the young couple, though iull of liie's poetic dreams and future visions, think that they should both live to see the destlnation 01' their jom-ney become one of the famous educational centers of the New World. In those days, wolves, bears, deer, and other wild animáis were numerous, and the stealih.v Incliau threaded the niazy foreste, and jealously ñoñi his coveb of foliage, watched him as a "Hisechoingaxe thesettler swung Amjd the sealike solituiie.'' and we can Imagine that his native denizen of the foresr wlio thns beheld his "temples' 'hewed down by au invadías race, had some faint conception of his own fate sure to follow in the natural order of events. Mis. Iathrop possessed a very retentive memory up to within a íew months of her rteath, and iovtd 10. converse about her pioneer life. And on the Öth of February 1893, slie furnished thi.s paper a very interesting letter which was then published. In speaking of the naming of Ann Aroor, Mrs. Lathrop never alluded to the birth of a chlld under an improvised or natural arbor as mentioned by Edward Dormer in this week1 Oourier. She did however, know Ann Sprague, who afterwards became Ann Rumsey. Mrs. Lathrop's daughters who were seen this mornlng, feel certain that so interesting an incident as two sisters-in-law, both whoee names were Ann, and the birth of a daughter which was also called Ann, would be a circumstance that their mother would in subsequent years have talked of and her utter silence upon that question seems to dispute it. February 6, 1893, Mrs. Lathrop gave us an article of remeniscent nature which we puWished, and we copy a portion of it into this article. lt will appear by that that she is nnquestionably the pioneer schooJ teacher of Aan Arbor, and we learn this niorning that the late Judge Farnham of Port Huron, was one of her pupils. In spéaking oí these times she says : ''■Wnere Ypsilanti now stands there was but four dwellings. An o'.d i rading house had been converted into a tavern. There was quite a .show oí flowers in the woods although late n the fal!. "We reached Ann Arbor the eventng of the second day. Thai city derived its name on account of the noble aspects of the original site of the village, which was a burr oak opening resembling an arbor, laid out and cultivated by the hand of nature. For the prefix 'Ann' it was indebted according' tö undeniab'e tradltion to the first white woman that cooked the first meal there, 'Ann Sprague, then Mrs. Kunisey of our town, Esrêt Betliany. She took me down to a üttle brook or run, as they called ,it, where some stones wei e piled together, heve, she did her cooking. Though it lias been some C0 years, it seems as though I could lócate it now, were I there. It was a delightful place, and here we Kta:d the second night. Tiiere. being no bridge across the river, we had to ford. Of course this seemed frightful to me, but I soon learned not to muid it. I was highly deüghted with my forest liome, which though wild in its nature, looked nice to me. Mr. Lathrop was very ambitious, and built us a nice house so that we moved in in Apri!. School privileges beïng poor, and I having p'enty oí time, concluded to have a se'.ect school at our house, accordingly in May, the school began, which erved to while away many lonesome hours. Occasionally we had local preaching there. I reeaU two young ministers that came from Ohio, Fücher and Colclasier, who became very eminent preachers. The first celebratiou ever held in Ann Arbor was so different in many respects. The seasons being earlier, they had new wheat, corn and in fact all garden produce. A Virginia man by the name of Allen, an experimental gardener, furnished them. Hie garden was on the ground where the University now stands. I forgot to say that previous to the whites coming there, it was the Indians' dancing ground. So you eee it was in iine condition, being well cleared. The Indians were not very troub'esome at this time, yet occasionally when they found wonien alone, and had been using fire water (whisky too freely, they would troub!e them. I remember ome instance. ïhey had been to Detroit for their presente and were oa their way home. Near Pymouth, the chief's son went into a settler's house and demanded bread. The woman told him kIiu had none. he still insisted they liad none, and he killed her. The news spread, they raised a company at Detroit, having Jr. Nichols for captain. 'lliey overtook them on the plains near Plymouth. Tliey gave the chief to understand that ii he would deliver up his son, they would not molest them, but il' not, they would shoot htm. He made motion for them to do so, and they did so. It was called Togus Plains, after the chief ; and there was no more trouble at that time. Dr. Nichole afterwards located at Dexter, and was their leading physician for years."