by A.T. Andreas

History of St. Clair County

St. Clair Township and City

[636] So much has been said and written already upon this division of the county that little remains to be told. Within the limits of St. Clair the French missionaries and their converts among the Indians made their homes at a very early day. Here, too, many of the first American pioneers located, and hither may be said to come all the white Americans, who made the country their home previous to its organization. The beginnings of St. Clair County were made here.

The dusky sons of the forest were not unmindful of the worth as well as beauty of the plateau upon which the village rests. The uplands of the west and the timbered forests of the east were wedded at our feet. There was a wealth of soil by the union, which neither alone possessed. Grand old forest trees here and there reared their great forms, indicative of the fertile plains, and here and there were beautiful prairie spots, where little toil removed the slender shrubs, and gave to the Indian his coveted field for corn. Along the slopes the antlered stag led the timid doe by night to graze upon the first green foliage in the early springtime, seeking again the tangled dells and groves just west - for more secure retreat as the day drew on. His ways were beaten paths and hither the hunter was lured by reason of abundant game, and here, beside their pathway he pitched his tent and made his winter home. Here, too along our eastern border was that grand belt of lofty pines. Their wealth of sweets gave pleasing answer to his toils, and lured him hither until the bursting buds told that the winter days were passed. Then came the planting time, and all along on either side of the beautiful ridge the Indian corn hills were visible for a long time after the white man's invasion, in fact, until his plow-share upturned and hid most of them in the cultured earth. Like the white man, the Indian, too, had faith that harvest should be born of plantings, and so with patient toil, each year he filled afresh those little mounds of earth, and in the summit of each mound dropped the corn seeds, counting the days of sunshine, of early and late rains, till returning from the summer's hunting, he should gather for his winter's store the ripening ears.

The planting season passed and summer drawing on, the Indians were wont to strike their tents, gather upon their patient, burden-bearing wives and ponies the wealth of their encampments and plunge deeper into the forests, in quest of more abundant game, or along the banks of streams and shores of lakes to add their treasures to their slender stores. Thus wending their way, by old frequented trails, to cherished haunts, they made their annual rounds. Happy the years when no wampum belt was sent from lodge to lodge to summon the warriors to council, and from council, perhaps to bloody battles. Happy the years when only friendly greetings were in store, and pipes of peace were smoked in formal round; when as the annual greeting of the bands came round, for days whole tribes were joined in gladsome, festive and religious rites. Those joyous meetings and those greetings passed, hither these wanderers came, for now the corn harvests were at hand, and now the home thanksgiving feasts began.

The Indians' Manitou, like ours, was worshiped for the harvest gifts. The younger pitched their lodges beside the father's or the elder brother's tents. Feasting, dancing, joyous sport, and sacred rites found each a place, and this one feature marked it best of all. The fortunate and famished were alike fed. While the feast lasted, whosoever would might eat. The richest ones could do no more, and thus for once each had enough and more.

Hither again the Chippewas were accustomed to return from their summer wanderings, and on the very spot where the city stands, tradition tells of many a winter home, curling among the branches of stately trees, long since destroyed, the smoke from hundreds of campfires was lost in the blue above.

The river gives life and animation to the scene, now washing the bases of the bordering banks or cutting through the midst of an extended plain, which sometimes parts to take the [637] waters in its embrace, it always moves majestically and triumphantly on its course. Swollen by the spring rains or melting snows of winter, it extends its channel to a distance of miles at some points, until it becomes a long, continuous inland sea. The river currents never for two consecutive seasons probably pursue exactly the same course, and the changes furnish a variety to the mariner. The contrast of hill and vale, open land and woodland, of water and land, gives a variety most grateful to the eye. From the Oakland House, overlooking the river, one never fails to see a glorious sunset, when the weather is propitious. The changing hues are modified by the tinted tops of the trees, the wooded slopes and the plain and river, so that almost every varying shade may be traced from the deepest hue to the almost inperceptible tint. The pencil of the artist and inspiration of the poet would alike fail in giving an adequate conception of the wonderful loveliness of a St. Clair sunset. Commercially, the city is most admirable situated, being accessible from large agricultural regions east and west; on the direct route from Chicago and all western points to Canada and eastern cities. The sale and direct shipment of goods, as also their trans-shipment, is simply enormous and every entire mile of road is said to embrace a radius of an entire township in area that is added to the city whose advantages of competing freights by car and steamer must make it one of the greatest distributing points of all the new region to the northwestward, now being opened to settlement and traffic. This pre-eminence can no doubt, and will be held indefinitely by judicious management on the part of the commercial community from the moment they obtain it.

In the following brief sketch of the township's history, the names of the principal town officers from date of organization to the present time, are given. It is beyond the range of practicability to refer to the various acts of the different Town Boards or administration. That the well-being of this division of the county was their object cannot be doubted, since its present prosperous condition, the growth of its educational affairs and we might add the very habits, manners, and customs of its population tell of precedents laid down by those township legislators, and followed by their constituents.

ORGANIC.

The boundaries of the original township of St. Clair, as it formed a part of Macomb County, established January 5, 1818, by executive proclamation, were: "Beginning on the north shore of the River Huron or Clinton, including the shore and running along the shore of Lake St. Clair to the mouth of the River St. Clair, and along said river to Fort Gratiot, and extending in the rear three miles and one-eighth, shall form one township and be called St. Clair." In April following, all the territory of Macomb County, north of a line drawn west from mouth of Swan Creek, was organized as St. Clair Township.

In 1820, the county was ordered to be organized with St. Clair as a township. In 1823, March 17, Plainfield and Cottrellville were organized, and St. Clair Township comprised all the county of St. Clair north and northwest of Cottrellville.

SUPERVISORS OF ST. CLAIR TOWNSHIP AND CITY.

Everett Beardsley, 1827-28; William Gallagher, 1829-30; Andrew Westbrook, 1831; Edmund Carleton, 1832-35; H. N. Monson, 1836-37; Commissioner's Board, 1838-41; Harmon Chamberlin, 1842-47; Israel Carleton, 1848; Harmon Chamberlin 1849-54; Henry Whiting, 1855; William B. Barron, 1856; E. Smith, 1857; T. E. Kitton, 1858; E. Smith, 1858; Charles Kimball, 1859; Harmon Chamberlin, 1859; Benjamin Jenks, 1859; Nelson Mills, 1860-61; William Oaks, 1860; H. Chamberlin, 1860-63; Charles Kimball, 1861; William Luck, 1862; John E. Kitton, 1862; C. McMellen, 163-65; T. C. Owen, 1863-67; Henry Whiting, 1863; B. W. Jenks, 1864-68; G. L. Cornell, 1864-69; William Luck, 1866; John E. Kitson, 1866; D. F. Willoughby, 1866-67; John V. Kemp, 1867-69; E. Smith, 1867-69; William Grace, 1868-69; Dennis Jones, 1870; F. H. Blood, 1870; J. Stitt, 1870; G. F. Collins, 1870-73; P. S. Carleton, 1871-73; C. H. Waterloo, 1871; G. L. Cornell, 1871-73; J. W. Hill, 1871; William Grace; 1872-73; E. Smith, 1872; B. F. Crampton, 1874-75; B. W. Jenks, 1874-75; T. H. Blood, 1874-77; E. E. Carleton, 1876; G. Strauss, 1876; G. J. Ward, 1877-80; Joseph Cook, 1877; T. H. Blood, 1878-80; B. W. Jenks, 1878; C. [638] H. Waterloo, 1879; A. A. Currie, 1879; George W. Carleton, 1880; Joseph Doak, 1880; P. S. Carleton, 1881; C. H. Waterloo, 1881; Andrew A. Currie, 1881; James T. Aulls, 1881; P. S. Carleton, 1882.

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.

Horatio N. Monson, 1837; Israel Carleton, 1838; Pendleton Odgen 1839; M. H. Miles, 1840; H. N. Monson, 1841; I. Carleton, 1842; John C. Waterbury, 1843; M. H. Miles, 1844; Benjamin C. Cox, 1845; I. Carleton, 1846; Obed Smith, 1847; M. H. Miles, 1848; B. C. Cox, 1849; A. J. Palmer, 1850; I. Carleton, 1850; A. J. Palmer, 1851; M. H. Miles, 1852; Obed Smith, 1853; Daniel Follensbee, 1854; Nelson Mills, 1856; William Blakely, 1856; M. H. Miles, 1856; Albert A. Carleton, 1857; Benjamin Mallory, 1858; Timothy Barron, 1858; Joseph H. Marsh, 1858-66; Nelson Mills, 1859; Elias C. Williams, 1860; George Carleton, 1861; Adam Gaffield, 1862-68; Thomas Cuttle, 1863-71; John Kennedy, 1865-69; Alonzo Gustin, 1868; William H. Davie, 1870; George McCormick, 1872-76; Henry Suck, 1873; Thomas Donner, 1873-74; Thomas Cuttle, 1875; William Spence, 1876; Justus Wells, 1877; Thomas Donner, 1878; John Hall, 1878; Joseph Kesseler, 1879; George McCormick, 1880; C. W. Blanchard, 1881; John Hall, 1881; Thomas Doner, 1882.

The officers elected in April, 1882, are named as follows:
Supervisor - Palmer S. Carleton, Democratic, 2 majority.
Clerk - Joseph Kesseler, Democratic, 34 majority.
Treasurer - Peter Bell, Republican, 78 majority.
Highway Commisioner - Francis Jackson, Republican, 78 majority.
The remainder of the ticket was Democratic by a small majority.

EARLY HISTORY.

Among the pioneers of the town were Antoine St. Bernard, the Carletons, the Coxes, Ogdens, Thibaults, Thomas Palmer, A. J. Palmer, Fultons and Beardsleys, together with others named in the list of land buyers. That portion of the township bordering on Pine and St. Clair Rivers dates its settlement to 1765, when Patrick Sinclair established a military and trading post there, and introduced the lumber-making era. In the sketch of St. Clair City, as well as in the general history of the county, references are made to this early settlement.

The population of St. Clair town and city in 1845 was 1,009; in 1850, 1,728; in 1854, 3,080; in 1864, 3,335; and in 1880, 3,919. The area of the township including the city is 25,950 acres. The equalized valuation of city and township, $1,073,705; the number of children of school age in city and township in 1881 was 1,516.

The first patentees of land in Township 5 north, Range 16 east, were Hartford Tingley, Sections 9, 10, 4; James Kennelly, Asa Gilbert, Section 9 (1825); H. R. Jerome, Sections 15, 22; Oliver W. Miller, Sections 15, 26, 27 (1826); Thomas Palmer, Section 27, (1827); David James and William Meldrum, P. C. Nos. 304, 306, 307, of 640 acres each claim, 1808. The land purchasers in the different sections from 1827 to the close of 1836, are names as follows: Section 1 - Charles A. Cook, Henry Dwight, Chester Carleton, H. H. Graves, Cummings Sanborn, Samuel Hutchins, Abner Cobern, Franklin Moore, Reuben Moore, William H. Carleton. Section 2 - James Byrne, Sr., H. R. Jerome, Abner Coburn. Section 3 - J. M. Wilson, A. Corburn. Section 4 - F. Wilcox, H. Chamberlain, N. Gilbert, Daniel Stewart, Hiram Ensign, A. Coburn. Section 5 - John S. Kimball, James Ogden, E. Smith, P. Blodgett, Benjamin Bissell, J. M. Wilson, F. Moore, R. Moore, C. Baxter, W. Steel, William Sweat, Joseph C. Cox. Section 6 - Ira Porter, John Starkweather, R. & F. Moore, Blodgett, Bissell, and Smith. Section 7 - H. B. Seymour, Baxter, Steele and Sweat, John Starkweather, Nathan Godell, Luke Hemingway.

In Township 5 north, Range 16 east. Section 8 - F. & R. Moore, Thomas Palmer, George A. O. Keefe, Cyrus Moore, David F. Kimball, R. H. Waller. Section 9 - Andrew J. Palmer, James Byrne, Harman Chamberlain, Dan Stewart, Abner Coburn. Section 10 - Reed Jerome, H. R. Jerome, Everett Beardsley, J. M. Wilson, A. Coburn. Section 11 - Eliza S. Gillett, J. M. Wilson, F. and R. Moore, A. Coburn. Section 12 - J. S. Kimball, William H. [639] Carleton (1835), F. Moore, A. Coburn. Section 13-14 - James McClanan. Section 15 - O. W. Miller, H. R. Jerome, Curtis Emerson, Otis W. Norton, James Halpine, James Dougal. Section 17 - Andrew J. Palmer, Luther Brown, N. H. Park, Charles Spoor, Baxter, Steele, and Sweat, Dan Lockwood, James McClannan. Section 18 - Pendleton Ogden, Joseph Coffin, William Cox, Gideon Cox, Ed. Fay. Section 19 - Chester Loomis, O. W. Norton, R. Bell (1837), Duthan Northrop (1848). Section 20 - Thomas Palmer and James McClanan. Section 21 - Fred. J. Clute, John O'Connor, Benjamin Avery, James McClanan. Section 22 - H. R. Jerome, O. W. Miller, John O'Connor, James McClanan. Section 23 - Daniel Lockwood, James McClanan. Section 24 - Henry B. Turner, Francis Thibault, F. Moore, R. Moore, Benjamin S. Hammond, Levi Beardsley and George Palmer. Section 25 - Sargeant Heath, Clark & Warren, Sam D. Woodworth, Elijah J. Roberts, Thomas Barber, Jr., Nelson Barber, Tabor Beebe. Section 26 - O. W. Miller, Clark and Warren, D. Lockwood, J. McClanan. Section 27 - Thomas Palmer, Nelson Tomlinson, Eben C. Holt, O. W. Miller. Section 28 - William A. Pattin, Jesse H. Foster, Samuel W. Green. Section 29 - James McClanan. Section 30 - Benaiah Barney (1837). This section was purchased between 1848 and 1860. Section 31 - W. T. Westbrook, Baxter, Steele and Sweat, George Hasmer. Section 32 - John Fitts, Thomas Palmer, Baxter, Steele and Sweat. Section 33 - John Fitts, Banjamin F. H. Witherell, T. Palmer, Washington A. Bacon, Baxter, Steele and Sweat. Section 34 - Nelson Tomlinson, Roswell Keeler, J. A. Van Dyke, Hepburn McClure, James Witherell, and Jesse H. Foster. Section 35 - John Winder, Clark and Warren, the latter also made a purchase of 19 acres on Section 36, in February, 1836.

In Township 5 north, Range 17 east. Section 6 - J. Henderson, P. Brakeman, Soloman Yaran (1832), Andrew Mack (1835). Section 7 - Israel Carleton, Margaret Moore, Clarke and Warren (1835-36). Section 17 - Jonathan Kearsley, 1824. Section 18 - Jean Marie Beaubien. Section 19 - Rev. Gabriel Richard, J. M. Beaubien, F. Thibault, Alexander St. Barnard, Franklin Moore and Reuben Moore, (1835-36). Section 20 - Louis St. Barnard. Section 29 - Rufus Hatch. Section 30 - Stephen Mack, Samuel W. Dexter (1824), Everett Beardsley (1829), Chester Loomis (1831). There are three P. Claims in Township Nos. 255, 305, and 406, which were granted to the firm of Meldrum & Park in 1808-12.

Germany is largely represented in the citizenship of the district. The customs and habits of "Fatherland" did not suffer by their passage across the ocean, and consequently are retained in a great degree socially and religiously. Some of the villages or settlements might pass for villages on the banks of the Rhine instead of the St. Clair or its tributaries. Yet an admixture of these people makes a good community, and the district has grown and developed with commendable rapidity, as shown by the census of 1880.

It is fair to presume that there were a large number of these settlers, who scattered themselves about in different parts of the country. Some of them, perhaps, are still living on the lands upon which they filed their claims, which were perfected by deeds from the President, and there is no doubt that many others, in a few years, when settlements got too thick for their notions of ease, comfort and freedom, sold out their possessions, "pulled up stakes," and moved on after the Indians. Others, again, no doubt, paid the debt of nature and found a last resting place near the homes they founded in the wilderness. And thus, one by one, of these, who were well known when they first came, dropped out of sight and out of memory, except the more prominent ones who were spared to make their mark in their respective neighborhoods, or write their names in the "Old Settlers' record." It is not to be supposed that, in the absence of written records, every one who was here in 1835, nearly half a century ago, can be identified and located by the few survivors of that period. It would be a remarkable memory that could do this - that could keep pace with the changes that years bring in the history of any community, particularly in a pioneer community, many of whom are of a restless, roving, discontented nature.

ST. CLAIR CITY.

This city and neighborhood may be justly called the site of the parent settlement of the county; for here the first immigrants pitched their tents, and here the first improvements, that amounted to anything, were made, and for many years this point was a sort of commerical me- [640] tropolis or center for the entire adjoining districts. When the pioneers for the first time came to the old camping grounds of the Otchipwes on the bold and imposing bluffs extending along the west bank of the river, they beheld spread out before them to the west, as far as their vision could reach beyond the river, one of nature's most beautiful panoramas; a land to them then denied, which gave promise, through the perfection of its natural resources of a future, that some day would become excellent in every detail of civilization, if not celebrated in the annals of history. That condition, then only so dimly foreshadowed, has at last been realized; scarcely half a century has passed by, and the scenes that then only resounded to the savage cries of wild animals, and the blood-curdling yells of aborigines, now re-echo the plow-boys' whistle, the faithful call of domestic animals, the constant whirl of busy machinery, and the joyous shout of happy school children, or the laborer's voice. It is not much more than half a century since the wild flowers bloomed in countless profusion and variety on these lands, and civilized man had scarcely invaded the precincts of virgin nature. Now all is changed; the whole country teems with the fruits of peace and industry, and thousand of houses dot the landscape, the dwellings of happy families. What a marvelous transformation is this, and how seemingly impossible; yet the country is almost aged already, so precocious has been its development. Very many of those who began the work of taming the wilderness, and thus gave the first impetus to the steps of infant progress, are now no more. Fortunately for them and their successors, history comes to the rescue and furnishes a meed of praise, and perpetuates the record of their efforts and achievements for the instruction and entertainment of their posterity. When we pause to think of this beautiful country - now completely conquered by the white man's hand, and yielding abundantly the various productions needed to supply the demand of his growth - was but a few short years ago only a haunt for wild beasts and the unrestrained sons of the forest, we can scarcely comprehend the change. Neither can the efforts of those who first invaded the land and turned up the native soil to the sun's mellowing rays be understood by the young of to-day. Only those who have been here from the first, and saw the gradual progress which the passing years have wrought, can fully realize the change and appreciate the struggles and sufferings of nearly half a century in the past. Then, men here had almost to fight day by day for the barest necessities while they were making homes for themselves and their successors, and paving the way for a future of successful efforts in the work of utilizing nature's resources to supply man's necessities. Of the men who first came here in adventurous youth, but few remain to tell the tales of living in a cabin or lying down to sleep with the canopy of heaven for a covering, and the howls of wolves to disturb their slumbers. All the past seems but a phantom of the mind, a creation of some idle moment when compared with the realities of to-day; yet such is the history of progress and civilization almost everywhere; the scenes of the past six decades' growth here are but a repetition in the main of the vast work of development that has been going on for nearly three hundred years in this country, and that even now is coursing onward through the mighty West. Those who first stuck claim stakes here were the French. Next came the Americans, or Yankees, a restless, adventurous kind of people, who are ever fond of change and new scenes, and for whom a pioneer life is replete with a certain wild enjoyment. Many of these, disliking the restraints and incumbrances of the older civilization, as the country improves, go on further to the front, and finally end their lives far from the place of beginning, perchance, in a wild, new country. Had they but located permanently somewhere, and let the youth of their families do the advance work, they might have lived to see and enjoy the results of their early efforts. Yet, perhaps it is well that the country is large enough, and life broad enough, to allow every man at this age to select a place to suit his fancy and convenience, even though his notion may not be productive of lasting good to himself, or those who may have to depend on him. More than the average number succeeded in life, and transmitted to their children not only the holy precedents of honest labor, but the home and wealth which that labor wrung from Time.

The city is handsomely laid out, well up above high water mark, and, with its manufacturing establishments and business places, is attracting a thrifty population. The population is principally American. It has quite a number of French Canadians and Germans, who are an industrious class of citizens. The city has an advantageous location in many respects, with [641] remarkable booming and mill privileges. The schools and churches are quite in keeping with the enterprise of the people; one of the largest hotels in the West affords ample accommodation to the traveler; a well-edited paper gives the local news; while the railroad and river navigation place it within easy distance of the commercial capital of Michigan.

NOMENCLATURE.

The first name given to the settlement at the mouth of Pine River was Palmer, in honor of Thomas Palmer, who platted a portion of private claims 304 and 305, in 1828. Subsequently its name was changed to St. Clair to perpetuate the name of the American General - Arthur St. Clair, and not that of Patrick Sinclair, of the British Army. Ten years previous to 1828, Arthur St. Clair died, but in the year just given, the people began to realize the value of Washington's deceased friend, and here, on the borders of civilization, both French and American settlers joined in naming the location of their homes after one of the soldiers of the Revolution; even as the people of the entire county previously adopted the name from the name of the lake.

One of the first names applied to this lake, was Tziketo, on Lac de la Chandiere. Pere Hennepin called it St. Clare; while in De L'Isle's map of 1700, it is written L. de Ste. Claire. The present use of the geographer in his maps of 1703-18 calls it Lac Ganatchio on Ste. Claire. The present use of the word St. Clair is a barbarism. In recognition of the explorers and as a mark of courtesy we should continue the title which they gave the lake, and which subsequently was applied to the entire district - Ste. Claire. If the name should be anglicized, let the translation be used and the words written St. Clare not St. Clair.

The connection of Gov. St. Clair with the Northwest was highly beneficial. His visits and letters always reduced the savages to peace, and brought confidence to the early American settlers of the State. As the biography of this soldier-statesman must be instructive and interesting to a people who have selected his name as a fitting one for their city, it is thus given:

Arthur St. Clair was born in 1734, and, having entered the army, came to America in 1758. He was at the capture of Louisburg and Quebec, and at the latter place caught up the flag dropped by Wolfe, and so distinguished himself as to secure promotion. In 1760, he married at Boston a half-sister of Gov. Bowdoin, and two years later resigned his commission and settled in the Ligonier Valley, Western Pennsylvania. He served through the Revolutionary war as one of Washington's most trusted subordinates, and at the close of the war was a delegate to the old Confederation Congress, serving as President of that body from February to November, 1787. In Febraury, 1788, he was appointed Governor of the Northwestern Territory, and held the office until November, 1802, when he was removed by President Jefferson. His term in office covered the period of organization of Indian troubles, and of the intrigues incident to settlement and struggles for political mastery. St. Clair was a pronounced Federalist, and a steadfast friend of Washington and Hamilton, and early came in conflict with the Western adherents of Jefferson and Madison. The bitterness of the political contest incident to the formation of new States for a time blinded the people to the worth of St. Clair's character and the importance of his work, and he died in poverty in 1818, at the age of eighty-four.

At a later date, a measure of justice was done the stout-hearted old Federalist, who made so courageous a fight against slavery, and who played so conspicuous a part in the formative period following the Revolution. The story of St. Clair's life has been frequently told, but there is a pathetic side to the history of his career that the many who have written simply as biographers have not cared to touch upon. At a critical period of the Revolutionary war, he advanced money to recruit soldiers, and at another period, when Governor of the Northwestern Territory, he went security for the Government to the contractor for supplies necessary to carry on a treaty with the Indians. These sums, although approved by the proper authority and pronounced justly due by Congress, were refused payment by the Government on the ground that the statute of limitations had expired. As a consequence of the non-payment of money due him by the Government, St. Clair became financially embarrassed, and his property was sold under the hammer. In referring afterward to the executions which swept away his beautiful home and all his personal property, St. Clair said: "They left me a few books of my classical library and the bust of Paul Jones, which he sent me from Europe, for which I was very grateful." What the old man had done to deserve this treatment the [642] record shows. When hostilities broke out between the colonies and the mother country, St. Clair was residing in the Ligonier Valley, happily situated. In 1775, he accompanied the Commissioners appointed by Congress to treat with the Indians at Fort Pitt, and suggested to them an expedition to surprise and capture Detroit with 500 mounted men, which force he proposed to help equip and lead. The Commissioners approved, but Congress hesitated, which was a fatal mistake, for with Detroit in possession, the Indians would undoubtedly have been prevented from joining the British.

St. Clair drew up the resolutions adopted at the first meeting of the patriotic Pennsylvanians, held at Hannastown early after the attack at Lexington, pledging support to the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay.

It was in these resolutions, adopted on the 16th of May, 1775, that it was declared, "It is therefore become the indispensable duty of every American, of every man who has any public virtue or love for his country, or any bowels for posterity, by every means which God has put in his power, to resist and oppose the execution of it (the system of tyranny and oppression); that for us we will be ready to oppose it with our lives and our fortunes." St. Clair was made Colonel of the Second Pennsylvania Regiment, and marched to Canada to re-enforce the army there. He participated in the battle of Three Rivers, and after that untoward event, says Wilkinson, "by his counsel to Gen. Sullivan at Sorel, he saved the army in Canada." St. Clair was at Ticonderoga until November, 1776, when he was ordered to re-enforce Gen. Washington in New Jersey. Here began the friendship between Washington and St. Clair, which continued unabated as long as the former lived. The campaign on the Delaware, during the dark days of the ever-memorable winter of 1776-77, when the surprise of the British at Trenton and the brilliant battle of Princeton electrified the whole country and restored the fortunes of the Americans, claimed his services.

St. Clair's share in these exploits was brilliant, and won him promotion from Bridgadier to Major General. Bancroft has denied that St. Clair suggested the strategic movement by which the American Army escaped from the cul de sac at Trenton, and won the victory at Princeton, but it is clearly proved by unquestionable authority. The courage and military skill of St. Clair are brought out prominently, and the important bearing this movement of abandoning untenable fortresses, and moving the forces into the interior, where the troops could obstruct the march of the enemy, had on the successful campaign on the Hudson which resulted in the surrender of Burgoyne, is clearly shown. While the uniformed public were clamoring over this giving up of the northern posts, St. Clair wrote to John Hancock in confident terms: "I have the most sanguine hopes that the progress of the enemy will be checked; and I may yet have the satisfaction to experience that by abandoning a post I have eventually saved a State." Nothing in the long public career of St. Clair more clearly establishes his great qualities than his course at and subsequent to the evacuation. He had the courage to perform a public duty at the risk of his reputation, and when Gen. Schuyler, alarmed at the public censure, sought an escape, St. Clair magnanimously assumed all responsibility. Time vindicated him, and he won a place in popular favor next to that enjoyed by Washington and Greene.

In all of the subsequent campaigns of the Revolution, St. Clair participated, and was the trusty friend of Washington, whom he supported against all cabals. Among the papers of this period are plans of campaigns and military movements submitted by St.Clair to Washington at the request of the latter.

The suffering of the army at Valley Forge, the distress and demoralization on every hand during that long struggle of eight years, and the marvelous tact and ability of Washington, which alone made victory possible, are all graphically described. The correspondence here presented between St. Clair and Washington, and President Reed and Robert Morris and other heroes of the Revoluntion, is of deep interest and of great historical importance.

After the war, St. Clair retired to private life. His large fortune had been spent in the service of the country, and he had now to cast about for means to support his large family.

In 1783, he was elected a member of the Council of Censors of Pennsylvania - a novel political body, unknown in any other State. St. Clair took high rank as a debater, and a plan of government, here presented, shows that he held wise views of what a republican government should be.

In 1786, St. Clair was elected to Congress, and in the following year was made President of the body, which proved to be the last Continental Congress. It was also distinguished as the Congress which passed the famous ordinance of 1787, which secured to freedom the vast territory [643] northwest of the River Ohio, of which the Illinois country and Wisconsin were important parts. Under that ordinance, St. Clair was made Governor of the vast Northwestern Territory. From first to last he was the opponent of slavery, and spoke frequently against its extension. His conveictions on the subject are shown in the following extract from a speech delivered at Cincinnati: "What is a Republican? Is there a single man in all the country that is not a Republican, both in principle and practice, except, perhaps, a few people who wish to introduce negro slavery amongst us, and these chiefly residing in the county of Ross? [Emigrants from Virginia.] Let them say what they will about Republicans, a man who is willing to entail slavery upon any part of God's creation is no friend to the rational happiness of any, and had he the power, would as readily enslave his neighbors as the poor black that has been torn from his country and friends." St. Clair, as has been said, was, like Washington, and Hamilton, a stanch Federalist. When the star of Adams had set, and Thomas Jefferson, the head of the young Democratic party, became President, an effort was made by the anti-Federalist (known as Republicans) to secure St. Clair's removal. This failed at first, but the political necessity of admitting a new State, and securing thereby more Republican electoral votes, finally accomplished the removal in November, 1802. This very curious political history is here correctly related for the first time. In bringing to light the real facts, the papers of Gov. Worthington, who was one of Mr. Jefferson's Lieutenants, were examined. Worthington wrote the letter to Jefferson, making the formal charges against St. Clair, and in all his course was extremely bitter. The order of removal was forwarded to St. Clair through his Secretary, who was his personal and political enemy. The Governor resented this by writing to James Madison, Secretary of State, a letter at once ironical and severe. But to the people, when requested to become a candidate for Governor of the new State, Ohio, he said, in declining the proffered nomination: "I have received many injuries and been treated with blackest ingratitude. * * * The Governor disdains to revenge the injuries offered to the man." This was a reference to the fact that he had not removed men from office who worked persistenly against him.

PIONEER HISTORY.

These beautiful lands were interlaced with silver rivulets that danced to their own music. Amid these openings - nature's mighty parks - roamed the noble deer; and over those prairies, which were like so many gorgeous pearls in richest settings, the soft wind played.

The first day of a pioneer family can well be pictured. It was in the season of the year when frosty nights were succeeded by sunny days; when the crows crept into the woods as if they felt approaching May. The kittens ran around the cabin, and chased each other up the trees; and the dog wandered along the riverside, for reasons best known to himself. The woodpecker tapped his drowsy music on the decayed trunks; the turkey peered from behind the roots of the upturned trees, where she had been waiting so long to hail the blessed warmth, and inquired, "What business have you here?" The squirrel pushed his nose out of the door of his castle, and, after looking cautiously at the intruders, threw his tail over his back, and, with an angry chirrup, trotted to the nearest stump; and then, as the sunbeams pierced through the tangled woods, the blue-bird burst forth into a note of song, tuned the strings of her harp to the coming summer, and inquired when gentle May was coming, with her music and her flowers.

There are threads of beauty that pervade every household, wherever it may be, and whatever may be its lot. There are always pleasant thoughts, kind words and happy remembrances flying to and fro. How must the hearts of this family have rejoiced when, as the long shadows of evening were stretching over the landscape, some traveler, in his Kentucky-jeans coat and stoga boots, alighted from his shaggy old horse, and asked entertainment for the night. They looked upon it as a sort of angel-visit; each one strived to outstrip others in acts of hospitality; and though they could not offer him the luxuries of life, he soon felt that he was welcome to anything they had. The old fireplace, if it was winter, was soon piled with logs up to the very throat, and shook its shadows around the room in defiance of the winds that roared without. If the traveler happened to have a paper a month old, their joy was at its height and the younger members of the family ransacked its columns with the greatest delight.

This little band had, as it were, severed all connection between themselves and the past. True to their purpose, they went to work in their new home as if they were going to tear down the whole forest and pile it into boards. Amid wind and storm and suffering and privation, they helped to lay the foundation of worldy peace. Morn's early dawn and evening's gentle hush bore witness to [644] their industry; and the happiness now enjoyed by the citizens of the city is, in a degree, the product of their labor. They were firm to their purpose as flints, and the sparks struck from them are transfigured into images of beauty and romance. Their memory will ever be necessary to the loveliness of the city.

In the report of C. Jouett, Indian Agent at Detroit, dated July 25, 1803, it is stated that 3,759 acres of pine lands were purchased from the Indians by Patrick Sinclair, the Commander of the British Post, known as Fort Sinclair. This purchase was made in 1765, and continued in possession of Sinclair until 1782, when he left the country for his home in Ireland, bestowing the entire property on a Canadian, named Vatiren. In 1784, the property was sold publicly by Vatiren, and was purchased by Meldrum & Parks, then important merchantile men in the Territory of the Northwest. This firm claimed the land as their property, made valuable improvements, and in other respects did much to open up the district to settlement. In 1803, there were five farmers on this tract (together with the tenants of Meldrum & Parks), who took forcible possession of the farms they occupy in the year 1800. The other nineteen farmers claim under Indian deeds granted in 1780 and 1782.

Archibald Phillips and Col. W. Trusdail, both old settlers of St. Clair Township, speak of evidences of white settlement, where St. Clair City now stands, anterior to the French pioneer period. They are correct. When they affirm that such evidences point out another settlement than that made by Patrick Sinclair in 1765, and perhaps improvements made by his employes, they appear to forget that every exiting historical idea and record regarding Du Luth's second Fort St. Joseph is set at nought by them. The old fort was located on the south bank of Pine River, ten rods from its confluence with the St. Clair. When Judge Bunce saw this locality sixty-five years ago, there was one stone chimney in its entirety, with half of another chimney. In his letter of January 27, 1883, he describes the ruins as standing in the midst of a grove of thrifty trees on the verge of the great forest, and states that it was a favorite home for wolves.

Col. Truesdail exhumed many interesting relics of the past, such as brick, found in the ruin of a chimney; a felt hat with gold lace trimmings, silver and copper articles, a silver bracelet, engraven with British coat of arms; needles and other evidences of early settlements, all at or near the mouth of Pine River. They are undoubtedly souvenirs of Patrick Sinclair's coming and stay in this country, and of his post where St. Clair City now stands.

ST. CLAIR MILITIA IN 1811.

It appears from original papers brought to light through the exertions of Lew M. Miller, Statistical Agent for Michigan, that on December 5, 1811, there was held a review of the Huron and St. Clair Militia, where Mt. Clemens City stands to-day. The names of the members with an inventory of the equipments of the two Huron River companies are given in the report made by Col. Hunt. It is one of the few records which survivied the British invasion of 1812. The battalion was then commanded by Christian Clemens. In the report it is stated that the St. Clair company failed to appear, not having had timely notice.

THE FIRST COUNTY SEAT WAR.

The lands on which St. Clair stands were purchased by James Fulton, who had in view the selection of that point for the seat of justice of St. Clair County. Fulton sold his interest in the tract to Thomas Palmer, of Detroit, after whom the village was named, and both exerted themselves to secure for the place the county office. Capt. Ward desired to have the county seat located at Marine City. Charles Noble, of Monroe, of the Commissioners appointed to locate the seat of justice, visited the points referred to, and after giving the subject of location a very full consideration, reported in favor of St. Clair. The Governor accepted the report, and proclaimed St. Clair as the capital of the county, which it remained until recently, notwithstanding varied efforts or suggestions made to remove it to Smith's Creek and other points.

HISTORICAL REMINISCENCES.

The following sketch of St. Clair and vicinity was read by William Grace, at the celebration in the city on the 4th of July, 1876. We make the following extracts, which are of interest, forming a part of the history of this county:

"The earliest occupancy by civilized men of the place where now stands our quiet though [645] beautiful little city is a matter accompanied with some doubt. As early as the month of June, 1686, a military trading post was established on the banks of the River St. Clair, which was called Fort St. Joseph. And while there are some who claim that this old stockade was located at or near the present site of Fort Gratiot, still stronger probabilities and better proof point to the mouth of Pine River on its southern bank, as the place of location of this old fort. Again, before the Revolutionary war, and in the year 1762, this point is mentioned by some enterprising voyagers as the locality of the old fort, thus proving that nearly 200 years ago the spot where our city now stands had been for a brief time the abode of civilized man. But it is believed, that no permanent occupancy by white men had intervened to break the solitude of the wild and almost impenetrable forest through which so noble a river for ages had flown, until the year 1790, when a small company of French settlers took up their abode on the St. Clair River, near the foot of Lake Huron. Fifteen years later and in the year 1805, the Territory of Michigan, by an act of Congress, was organized; and three years thereafter, and on the 26th day of October, A. D. 1808, the land upon which the city of St. Clair now stands, and known as private claims, numbered 304 and 305, was confirmed by the General Land Office to John Meldrum and James Meldrum respectively. And this was thirteen years before the County of St. Clair was organized. These private claims were subsequently sold by the Meldrums to James Fulton and others who became the first regular occupants, under local municipal regulations. Up to this time the place where we now meet in celebration was a wilderness, and with the exception of the old fort I have already named, and a dwelling near by supposed to have been built for officers' quarters, and long before gone into decay, no trace of civilized life had yet come to disturb the solitude of the surrounding wild woods. The first house built was by James Fulton, and occupied by him, and since known as the dwelling house of the late Benjamin Woodworth, and now used as a blacksmith and wagon shop.

The second house was also built by said James Fulton; it was afterward known as the Monson house, and now owned by Henry Stein. Mr. B. Wheeler, the father of Mrs. C. W. Bailey, of this place, came here about the same time. He is still living in the town of St. Clair. He is most emphatically one of the pioneers and an intelligent old gentleman.

In the year 1814, Mr. Louis St. Barnard came from Detroit and built a house on the banks of the river (Yankee street), using some of the brick in making his chimney which he took from the ruins of what was supposed to be Fort St. Joseph. Mr. St. Barnard was the father of our friend, Capt. Alexander St. Barnard, to whom I am indebted for valuable facts known to him in his boyhood. He was born on the St. Clair River, opposite Vicksburg, in Canada, in 1809.

At the commencement of the war of 1812, Mr. Louis St. Barnard, with his family, hastened to Detroit for safety, and remained there until the close of the war, when he returned again to the St. Clair River and settled upon the farm now owned by Capt. St. Barnard, on Yankee street, and built the house I have already named.

Upon the farm young St. Barnard was reared, and has ever since lived, and at an early age became connected with the surrounding river and lake navigation, and continued in that business until he became a skillful navigator.

In 1844, he was appointed by the Government a pilot on board the United States iron steamer Michigan, and remained in that responsible capacity until the year 1868.

Soon after the building in this place of the two dwellings by James Fulton, which had already been mentioned, other buildings both here and in the vicinity around followed.

A small building was erected by one Mr. Wilson at a point north of Pine River and near the place where the office of Col. Truesdail now stands. And this was the first store and Mr. Wilson was the first merchant in the place. The second store was built and occupied by John Thorn, upon the ground where now stands the brick store and dwelling of our respected fellow-townsman, Andrew Eber. The next two stores kept here were by Thomas Palmer and the late Frederick G. Wilcox.

Prominently among the merchants succeeding these may be mentioned our veteran salesmen, Col. William B. Barron and Col. Henry Whiting, who for much of the time during the past thirty years and upward have been successfully engaged in the sale of general merchandise. To mention all others thus engaged would take up more time and space than is intended within the scope of these notes. The first hotel here was located south of Pine River, and was conducted by one John Leach. The St. Clair Exchange followed at an early day, and was built by the said F. G. Wilcox, and first kept, perhaps, by one Tomlinson. The first school in the place was in a room owned by Mr. Phillips, the father of our much respected citizens, Arch and Charles Phillips. This school was taught by the Rev. Mr. Donihoo, who was the first Methodist preacher on the ground.

[646] The first schoolhouse erected here was at a point near where now stands the historic hall of our old bachelor friend, C. A. Loomis. The first mill built in the town of St. Clair was situated upon Pine River, and was erected by Mr. Jerome, father of Reed Jerome, Esq., and a number of other brave and excellent sons, whose names are familiar to many of us at present. Mr. Phillips, already named, was the first blacksmith, and his sons Archie and Charles were artisans, and good ones, of the same vocation.

On the eighth day of May, A. D. 1821, the township and county of St. Clair were organized. The township then embracing the entire county of St. Clair including the present county of Sanilac and contemporanious with the municipal organization of the town and county of St. Clair, of which the present territory of the city of St. Clair then formed a part, the seat of justice of the county was located at this place.

And very soon afterward commenced that very fertile and common source of strife in new counties, known as a county seat war.

And although the county seat remained at this place for fifty years, where justice, sometimes quaintly, sometimes solemnly, and sometimes otherwise, was regularly or perhaps sometimes irregularly dispensed, still a battle for a change of base was waged unrelentlessly with ever-varying phases of hope and fear on the part of each of the gallant contestants, until finally in the year 1871, in consequence of greater numbers and better railroad facilities, the war came to an end by the removal of the much-coveted seat of justice to Port Huron.

Soon after the organization of the town of St. Clair, which, as before stated, was then co-extensive with the whole county, embracing an area of 1,500 square miles, the Court of County Commissioners, as it was then called, found it out of the question to try and run things smoothly and successfully without a building in which to try the evil-doers, and a jail in which to place some of them in durance vile; and, consequently, the said Court Commissioners, who then consisted of Andrew Westbrook, George Cottrell and John K. Smith, hired a room in the dwelling house of James Fulton for a court room and at the same time contracted with the said Fulton to build a jail in the rear of his dwelling-house, and an appropriation of $35 was munificently raised for the work of putting up said structure.

And thus was the administration of justice in St. Clair County commenced with a Circuit Court in a sort of nisi prius form, occasionally held, one James B. Wolverton being High Sheriff of the county and John Thorn Clerk of the Court. Some six years afterward and in the year 1827, the people had become too proud to longer do busniess in such primitive style, and consequently a new court house and jail were erected. It was a log structure twenty-four by thirty-four feet in size. It was built upon the present court house square, which had been conveyed to the county for this purpose by the said James Fulton, and in the year last named it was accepted by the Board of Supervisors, who, by timely legislation, had succeeded the County Commissioners in such matters, although, as we are told, the said new building was accepted in an unfinished state. However this may be, it remained the court house and jail of the county until 1853 when it was destroyed by fire.

Directly following this conflagration a new jail and village hall was built of brick by the people of St. Clair, and the said jail is still held and occupied as the jail of the county.

In the year 1856 a new brick court house was erected upon the site of the old one, and largely by private contributions of the people of this locality, and the same remained as the court house of the county until the year 1871, when the county seat was removed to the city of Port Huron.

The old temple of justice has since been conveyed by the county to our people and is now known as the city hall.

This place was laid out and platted in the year 1828 by Thomas Palmer, and was known for some years as the village of Palmer. But the name was afterward changed to the village of St. Clair, and in 1850 the village was incorporated and thus severed its connections as a part and parcel of the town of St. Clair.

THE FIRST NEWSPAPER.

Thomas C. Fay, a native of Bennington, Vt., was the first owner of a newspaper office in St. Clair County, as he was one of the first publishers, printers and book-binders in New York City. To him Thurlow Weed was an apprentice, and many others who have since been identified with the press and political circles of the country, may be said to have begun their careers in his office.

[647] About the years 1833-34, he shipped a newspaper press from South Carolina to St. Clair or Palmer Village, consigned to Thomas M. Perry. The press arrived, Perry took charge, and the first newspaper ever published in the county was inaugurated.

When he arrived at Palmer for the first time he was so charmed with the beauty of the locality, that he purchased a tract of land from Thomas Palmer. Shortly after this purchase he returned to his home at Georgetown, S. C., and shipped the press referred to. A few years before his visit to St. Clair, about 1827, he married Miss Mary M. Broderick, of Georgetown, who subsequently came with him to Michigan. Mrs. Hodgson, of St. Clair, one of Mr. Fay's children, came with her parents in 1831, and remembers vividly the quaint little village of that period.

At the time Mr. Fay came, there were only seven or eight buildings at St. Clair, principally constructed of logs, namely, the block court house, where the present city hall stands; Samuel Hopkins, and Mrs. Hopkins, Senior, lived in a frame house, built by Thomas Palmer, just north of Pine River, the same in which Mrs. Stein now lives. James Fulton lived in a frame house north of Samuel Hopkins; on the river bank, opposite Fulton's in the Indian orchard and burying-ground was a frame building, with pebble plaster, the store of Thomas Palmer; the large frame building, partly finished in 1831, was built by Edward Hopkins, father of Samuel Hopkins, now owned by Mr. Potter, and occupied by Mrs. Mary McElroy. On the Eber Block stood a hewn log-house, built by John Thorn, used for every purpose in olden days, which was destroyed by fire over thirty-five years ago. On the river bank above the Hopkins' yacht house was the Beardsley dwellings.

Where the Sheldon brick yard now is, Capt. Bassett had a dwelling built partly of logs and frame work.

South of Edward Hopkin's house, where the Beyschley Block now is, was the frame house of the Widow Partridge, in after years the wife of Dr. Chamberlin.

The houses of Letourneau, shoe-maker Miller, stood north of Pine River; south of Pine River were the Kitton and Truesdail grist and saw mill.

Mr. Fay died shortly after the establishment of his paper at St. Clair.

The first steam-engine built at St. Clair was that by Edmund Hodgson & Sons, in 1846, for the Sheldon tannery. It did service there until about the year 1867.

The Myron Williams card mill at Belle River was one of the introductions of the manufacture of woolens at St. Clair. In 1849, John E. Kitton and John Nichol built the old four-story structure which stood on the site of the present factory. In 1856, this partnership was dissolved. The buildings and machinery were burned, October 9, 1866, involving Mr. Nichol in a loss of $12,000. In June, 1867, he began to rebuild, and in November of that year the present building was completed and the manufacture of woolens recommenced.

THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.

There is a volunteer fire department supplied with a Silsby steamer. The city pays the engineer. It was the first organization of the kind at St. Clair. The second fire company was organized August 5, 1870, with J. W. Loucks, Foreman, T. J, Rooney, F. A.; E. F. Barron, Secretary; Fred. Borntuger, Treasurer, and Alfred Jackson, Steward.

There was a destructive fire at St. Clair, April 29, 1875. The City Exchange, owned by J. L. Agens, was destroyed.

Great Rise of the St. Clair. - The water in the St. Clair River, owing to the blocking up of the ice on the flats and the strong northerly wind, on April 24, 1870, was at an unprecedented height. It had not reached such a point for a great number of years. In this city some trivling damage was done to Hudson & Hall's dock, some timbers being floated out of their position by the current. The waters rose above J. L. Agens' dock and entered the basement of his store. The basement of Mr. Doherty's furniture store was submerged about four inches, the family having to retreat to the upper story. F. S. Steele's cellar was flooded a few inches, and some tobacco, sugar, etc., damaged. In Henry Baughman's saloon, below S. Bendit & Co.'s store, the water rose through the floor five or six inches, necessitating the removal of the occupants. The water also rose into S. Bendit & Co.'s cellar, which is on the same level. Between Sunday morning and 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the water had risen twenty inches above the previous level, and in the hour and a half following, had fallen twenty-one inches. The sudden fall was undoubtedly owing to the breaking away of the jam between Marine City and Algonac. Some of our oldest inhabitants said that the [648] river had not been so high since 1839. At Algonac and Marine City, the unauspicious state of affairs prevailing on the river was fully experienced.

The pavement from Somerville School to the Oakland House, built in 1882, cost the city about $40,000. The work was done by L. J. Peck, of St. Clair City.

OFFICIAL HISTORY.

The village and city officers from 1850 to 1882 are named in the following list:

1850 - President, James T. Copeland; Recorder, J. Hart Hawes; Treasurer, Charles Davis; Marshal, Smith Falkenbury; Assessors, V. A. Ripley, L. Smith; Trustees, W. B. Barron, Grant P. Robinson, Robert Scott, John Nicoll, Leonard Smith and Harmon Chamberlin.

1851 - President, W. B. Barron; Recorder, Smith Falkenbury; Marshal, Joseph C. Partridge; Treasurer, Joseph T. Copeland; Assessors, C. Davis, Edward Carleton, Jr.; Trustees, John E. Kitton, Daniel Follensbee, Benjamin Woodworth, William Grace, Robert Scott and Marcus H. Miles.

1852 - President, John E. Kitton; Recorder, Thomas E. Barron; Marshal, Timothy Barron; Treasurer, Leonard Smith; Assessors, R. Scott, F. Phenix; Trustees, Edward Carleton, Jr., Arthur M. Tenney, John E. Kitton, H. W. Morell, Alexander H. Bartley and Benjamin C. Cox.

1853 - President, John E. Kitton; Recorder, Thomas E. Barron; Marshal, Timothy Barron; Treasurer, Edward Carleton, Jr.; Assessors, J. Nicoll, H. H. Mather; Trustees, A. M. Tenney, A. H. Bartley, Dio. Sheldon, Leonard Smith, S. B. Brown and John Henderson.

1854 - President, John E. Kitton; Recorder, H. H. Mather; Treasurer, E. Carleton, Jr.; Marshal, John L. Agens; Assessors, D. Follensbee, J. D. Chamberlin; Trustees, Thomas E. Barron, A. H. Bartley, Michel Duchesne, Lester Cross, Timothy Barron and James Ogden.

During the years 1855-56 the officers elected in 1854, held their positions.

1857 - President, George W. Carleton; Recorder, H. H. Mathers; Treasurer, T. E. Barron; Marshal, William Cook; Assessors, D. C. Vance, C. Davis; Trustees, J. E. Kitton, F. H. Blood, William M. St. Clair, Edward D. Kitton, W. B. Barron and William Grace.

MAYORS, RECORDERS, TREASURERS, MARSHALS, STREET COMMISSIONERS.

The following names represent the officers elected during the years 1853 to 1882, being Mayors, Recorders, Treasurers, Marshals and Street Commissioners, in the order indicated:

1858, Harmon Chamberlin, H. H. Mather, John Nicoll, S. L. Richmond, D. C. Vance.
1859, John E. Kitton, A. A. Carleton, John Nicoll, S. L. Richmond, D. Gurney.
1860, Eugene Smith, G. F. Collins, John Nicoll, P. Coyle, D. Gurney.
1861, William M. St. Clair, G. F. Collins, G. W. Carleton, P. Coyle, J. W. Loucks.
1862, G. L. Cornell, G. F. Collins, G. W. Carleton, J. Doak, J. W. Loucks.
1863, F. H. Blood, George C. Soles (also City Clerk, 1863), Ed. Carleton, A. J. Cummings, H. Whiting (Assessor).
1864, F. H. Blood, William Spendlove, John Marks, D. Edwards, B. W. Jenks.
1865, F. H. Blood, D. D. O'Dell, George C. Solis, H. S. Moore, B. W. Jenks.
1866, George L. Cornell, George H. Hammond, E. M. O'Brien, N. Farrington, J. E. Kitton.
1867, John Nicoll, J. D. Chamberlain, R. Scott, W. H. Dunphy, B. W. Jenks.
1868, D. Sheldon, J. D. Chamberlain, R. Scott, J. H. Morrill, B. W. Jenks.
1869, Tubal C. Owen, George F. Collins, J. B. Lucas, Jos. Stitt, George L. Cornell.
1870, John E. Kitton, J. W. Hill, J. B. Lucas, J. Duchesne, F. H. Blood.
1871, John E. Kitton, J. W. Hill, T. J. Nicoll, George A. Carleton, G. L. Cornell.
1872, John E. Kitton, J. W. Hill, Gus. Strauss, Alex. Bartley, E. Smith.
1873, John Canan, J. W. Hill, Gus. Strauss, George A. Carleton, G. F. Collins.
1874, Deodorus Sheldon, George J. Ward, J. S. Harrington, Alex. Bartley, B. W. Jenks.
1875, Deodorus Sheldon, George J. Ward, G. A. Doubleday, B. W. Jenks.
1876, Crocket McElroy, George J. Ward, Wheeler Stone, W. B. Morse, F. H. Blood.
1877, Deodorus Sheldon, George W. Corbishley, E. R. Harrington, S. C. Fairman, F. H. Blood.
1878, Gustavus Strauss, T. J. Millikin, -, S. C. Fairman, -.
1879, Justin R. Whiting, T. J. Millikin, George A. Carleton, A. St. Aubin, C. H. Waterloo.
1880, C. F. Morse, C. B. Waterloo, -, M. Simpson, C. H. Waterloo.
1881, C. F. Morse, C. B. Waterloo, J. W. German, M. Simpson, C. H. Waterloo.
1882, R. H. Jenks, A. A. Currie, A. Eber, Jr., J. G. Wortz, C. H. Waterloo.

[649] ALDERMEN OF ST. CLAIR CITY.

1858, William M. St. Clair, S. B. Brown, D. Sheldon, George W. Carleton.
1859, William M. St. Clair, S. B. Brown, D. Sheldon, H. B. Steele.
1860, D. Sheldon, F. H. Blood, H. H. Mather, R. H. Jenks.
1861, F. H. Blood, J. L. Agens, H. H. Mather, D. E. Solis.
1862, J. L. Agens, S. B. Brown, M. H. Miles, R. H. Jenks.
1863, William Grace, D. Sheldon, M. H. Miles, S. Hough.
1864, William Grace, Henry Whiting, T. J. Rooney, S. Langell.
1865, Henry Whiting, S. B. Brown, Ed. D. Kitton, William A. Warren.
1866, S. B. Brown, C. Beyschlag, Joseph Stitt, Francis Krouse.
1867, S. B. Brown, D. D. O'Dell, James Armstrong, G. Barntrigger.
1868, D. D. O'Dell, H. Whiting, William Black, George Barntrigger.
1869, Henry Whiting, D. D. O'Dell, William Black, F. S. Steele.
1870, D. D. O'Dell, Samuel Benditt, F. S. Steele, Gus Strauss.
1871, Gus Strauss, S. Benditt, F. H. Blood, James Moore, Joseph Laffrey, George H. Palmer.
1872, Board same as 1871 - J. L. Agens vice James Moore.
1873, S. Bendit, Charles Hubbell, George C. Solis, Joseph Laffrey, F. H. Blood, J. L. Agens.
1874, George C. Solis, F. S. Steele, Sol. Gilbert, H. P. Wands, John L. Agens, Joseph Laffrey.
1875, F. S. Steele, J. L. Agens, S. Gilbert, G. C. Solis, H. P. Wands, Joseph Laffrey.
1876, J. L. Agens, S. Gilbert, C. F. Moore, H. P. Wands, Charles Beyschlag, D. W. Hathaway.
1877, Charles Beyschlag, Bruno Streit, J. L. Agens, F. C. Moore, S. Gilbert, D. W. Hathaway.
1878, C. Beyschlag, G. Hathaway, B. Streit, F. C. Moore, John C. Clark, T. J. Rooney.
1879, H. Fischer, William Grace, W. B. Morse, T. J. Rooney, B. Streit, G. C. Solis.
1880, William Grace, C. McElroy, B. Streit, W. B. Morse, T. J. Rooney, G. C. Solis.
1881, J. M. Sanborn, O. K. Hopkins, W. B. Morse, B. Streit, Fred. Barntrigger, G. C. Solis.
1882, J. M. Sanborn, J. R. Whiting, Mark Hopkins, W. B. Morse, B. Streit, Fred. Barntrigger.

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.

In the township history, the names of city supervisors are given. The following are the names of Justices elected by the citizens since the year 1858: Albert A. Carleton and Obed Smith, 1858-62; David D. O'Dell, 1860-64; Marcus H. Miles, 1861; George F. Collins, 1866-71; Albert Carleton, 1868-72; M. H. Miles, 1868; David D. O'Dell, 1870-78; A. A. Carleton, 1876; William Black, 1880; Edward Canan, 1881-82.

The following officers were elected in April, 1882, the figures indicating the majorities: Mayor, R. H. Jenks, 35; Clerk, C. A. Currie, 75; Treasurer, A. Eber, 5; Justice, Edward Canan, 146; Assessor, C. H. Waterloo, 134. First Ward, Supervisor, Geo. J. Ward, no opposition; Alderman, J. R. Whiting, 50; Constable, E. J. Hall, 145, no opposition. Second Ward, Supervisor, Benjamin Palmer, 68; Alderman, W. B. Morse, no opposition; Constable, L. Werner, 2. The Treasurer, Eber, and Constable Werner were the only offices the straight ticket secured in opposition to the union ticket.

POPULATION.

By reference to the table on another page, it will appear that in the early part of 1866 there were in the city 896 inhabitants between the ages of five and twenty years. Taking this number as the standard of computation, there must have been at that time about 2,550 inhabitants in the city. This would give an increase of 874 over the census of 1864, and 143 more scholars than in the preceding census. In the statistics of population, given in the general history, the increase in the number of inhabitants since the close of the war, is shown.

THE CITY DURING THE WAR.

From the moment the flag of the Union was hauled down at Sumter, the people of the city and township vied with each other in a desire to avenge the insult. Patriotism and generosity ran riot. War meetings were appointed in almost every schoolhouse in the county, and speakers were in great demand. The demand, however, was supplied, as men who had never made a speech before, and have not since, proved to be fountains of patriotic eloquence. Party lines were nearly obliterated, old feuds were forgotten, and a new era in good fellowship and patriotism inaugurated. Old enemies, both political and social, met at recruiting gatherings, and made speeches together. [650] Patriotism and a desire to do something for their country were not confined to the men. The ladies were busy preparing little things for the soldiers to take with them; making flags, committing patriotic songs, making rosettes of red, white and blue, and lending their influence by being present at all war meetings.

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.

The following historical sketch of the Congregational Church at St. Clair was prepared some years ago by Rev. Mr. Grannis:

"The history of the Congregational Church of St. Clair, dates from the fall of 1833. Before that Rev. Mr. Wells and Rev. Mr. Coe, Presbyterian ministers from Mackinaw, had preached occasionally, and during the preceding summer Rev. Albert Worthington, a Congregational Home Missionary, had preached regularly in the log court house. Mr. Worthington, assisted by Rev. Luther Shaw and a delegate from Romeo, organized a Congregational Church of fourteen members in September, 1833, at the house of S. F. Hopkins. The following minute appears on the records of the Detroit Presbytery:

"'MONROE, September 18, 1833. - Request from Congregational of St. Clair, through Rev. L. Shaw, to be taken under the care of this Presbytery. Presbytery granted the request.'

"This shows that in the same month of its formation, the church became Presbyterian on the plan of union, which was generally adopted by Congregational Churches in the State. In October, 1835, the Presbytery held its stated meeting with the church in St. Clair.

"The records show that in February, 1835, the church, at its request, was received into the Presbytery, as a distinctively Presbyterian Church. The causes of this change are to be found in a case of discipline in the church, which it was thought required the aid of the Presbytery.

"In those early days, the remains of old Fort St. Clair were distinctly visible, Pine River was bridged by a raft of logs, the forest stood close around the little settlement; sidewalks were not in use. Two or three houses stood on the south side of Pine River, one of which was a hotel. The town was laid out into squares, but the buildings were few. Conspicuous among them was the old log court house used for town meetings. Romeo was then called Indian Village, and St. Clair the village of Palmer.

"To make it more easy to remember the history, I will divide the forty-five years between 1833 and 1878, according to the different pastorates of the men who have been pastors of this church.

"The first is the pastorate of Rev. O. C. Thompson. Soon after the church was organized, Mr. Worthington left, and there was no regular preaching till the spring of 1834, when Mr. Thompson came up from Detroit. In the fall of 1834, he moved his family here, and was ordained and installed pastor of this church by the Detroit Presbytery. Installation services were held in the court house at early candle light (the candles being fastened with forks to the sides of the house). Rev. J. P. Cleveland, presided, and preached the opening sermon from James, 1, xxii: 'Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only,' and offered the opening prayer. Rev. George Eastman gave the charge to the pastor and to the congregation. Mr. Thompson's pastorate was the longest of any, and being the first pastor his work and influence are strongly impressed upon the history of the church.

"The records of the thirteen years of his pastorate are not complete enough to enable me to describe fully the life and work of the church. In the spring of 1835, a society was formed called the Tabernacle Society of St. Clair; six trustees were appointed, and the organization was certified as required by law. This was substantially the beginning of our present Congregational society. The Trustees were E. Beardsley, S. Heath, H. Chamberlin, A. Northway, G. Palmer, J. Doran. E. Beardsley was elected Treasurer and S. F. Hopkins, our present Collector, was initiated into the work of the collectorship. E. G. Wells, a professed minister of the Gospel, occupied the pulpit a few Sundays in the absence of the pastor, but turned out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing and set the teeth of the church on edge, doing great harm. Another man of this stamp named Van Wormer, accomplished a similar disturbance in 1843. The project of church-building now occupied the thoughts of the people. In November, 1835, a committee was appointed to secure a site, and another committee to draft a plan and estimate the expense. The first proposition was to build a house 40x55 feet, capable of seating 400, at an expense of $2,000. At this time, the records give signs that financial troubles were clogging the wheels. The building project languished, and after more than a year, in December, 1836, an application was made to the Home Missionary Society for $200, 'to aid in the support of the Gospel.' In July, of the next year, 1837, the building committee reported [651] that they could not devise any plan for going on with the building. Nothing decisive was accomplished toward building until the spring of 1840, more than five years after the first steps were taken.

The frame work for the house on the large plan of a seating capacity for 400 was on the ground, but no way of going forward with the building appeared. At this point, Everett Beardsley entered into a contract to build the house on a smaller plan (40 feet by 26), promising to take his pay in "all kinds of produce, viz: wheat, corn, peas, barley, hay, meat, stock and merchandise."

The building was thus accomplished and with much effort and sacrifice, with the help of the Ladies' Sewing Society, who at one time nobly emptied their treasury to buy glass, the meeting house was finished and furnished by January 1, 1841. Two or three years later, an addition was made to the building, leaving it in its present condition. The expense of this addition was $210, and the amount was raised by subscription and by the sale of slips. In 1838, on account of ill health, Mr. Thompson desired to have the pastoral relations between him and the church dissolved, but at a meeting of the church it was resolved unanimously that "we request Mr. Thompson not to leave us." The request, however, was again made in October, 1839, to the Presbytery, and as the congregation this time concurred in the request, the Presbytery voted that the pastoral relation be dissolved. Mr. Thompson prepared to go to Green Bay, but the boat failing to make its last advertised trip for the season, he was left with baggage packed on the dock and thus, as some of his people thought, he was providentially hindered from going. He went soon after to Port Huron, where he remained one year.

We have seen that the church became Presbyterian in connection with a matter of discipline. After about eight years of Presbyterian history during which the same trial hung persistently over them, they resolved to make an ingenious back-leap into Congregationalism, leaving their adopted father, the Presbytery, without ceremony. By this they escaped in a good measure from their case of discipline, but truth requires it to be said that a committee appointed by the Presbytery, in 1842, passed a resolution of censure upon their action, after which the Presbytery had no further relation to this church. Twenty-one persons received letters of dismission from the Presbyterian Church and were organized into the Congregational Church of St. Clair, February 10, 1841.

Nine refused to take letters. Of these twenty-one, Mr. and Mrs. S. F. Hopkins, Deacon H. P. Cady, Samuel Webster, Parker Webster and Alpheus Earle are now members of the church.

The Congregational Church thus formed turned its eyes toward the former pastor, then in Port Huron, and Rev. O. C. Thompson was installed over it by ecclesiastical council soon after its organization.

The following month, eleven female members were received by letter and during the following three years, twenty-nine were admitted, twenty-one by letter, six on profession. We have no record of the membership of the church and Sunday school during Mr. Thompson's pastorate except for the years 1845-46. Reports from the Congregational Churches then first began to appear on the minutes of the general association, and there we find that in 1845, the church had forty-three members, the Sunday school one hundred and forty. In 1846, the church had thirty-seven members, the Sunday school one hundred.

During the latter part of this pastorate, services were held only every other Sunday, the pastor preaching on alternate Sabbaths at Algonac and Newport, which churches were formed at first as branches of this church.

About 1846, Mr. Thompson, on account of feeble health, asked the church to join with him in calling a council for dissolving the pastoral relation. They declined to do so, but released him from the obligation of supplying the pulpit and charged him to go and seek his health. His pastoral relation has never been dissolved. The particulars of the religious life and work of the church during the twelve years of Mr. Thompson's pastorate cannot be gathered from the records. Mention is made of a revival conducted by Rev. O. Parker in the Methodist Meeting House which added many to the church. The resources of the church during all these years were small. The membership must have averaged less than fifty. The pastor's salary was small and often in arrears. The following is the collector's report at the close of the year 1836:

ST. CLAIR, November 5, 1836.

Paid over to the pastor, Rev. O. C. Thompson, as per receipts on hand, $116.00. Balance due on subscription list, $126.

JOHN DORAN, Collector Tabernacle Soc.

Adding the amount collected and the amount due, we see that the salary paid by the church [652] for the year was $332. Whether this included the amount paid by the Home Missionary Society is not stated. Mr. Thompson is beloved and remembered tenderly by the remaining friends of those early days of hardship. He passed with them through the privations and toils incident to pioneer life. During the severe famine in the spring of 1837, a traveler received for dinner at the hotel a small piece of brown bread and a piece of pork two inches square, and was told that if all the eatables in town were gathered together there would probably not be enough for a full meal for each of the inhabitants.

In that year, the first boat from Detroit was hailed as a deliverer, and flour and pork were weighed out by the pound to the people that filled the dock. The church and its pastor struggled together through such privations as this; their hearts were bound together by a common experience of hardship. While we regret the occasional dissensions that mar the history, we still are proud of the heroic spirit that held them together and sustained regular service in church and Sunday school in times like those. This first and longest pastorate will always be memorable in the history of the church. The bell that now hangs in the steeple was placed there by subscription with the help of the Ladies' Sewing Society in 1843 or 1844, and for years was used as a substitute for a town clock, being rung morning, noon and night. Mr. Thompson said to me at his last visit here, "It is the sweetest toned bell for me that rings, because of its associations." He writes from Detroit, "Up to this time my heart yearns over that church, my first love." Mr. Thompson's pastorate closed, as nearly as we can estimate, in the summer of 1847.

He was followed by W. P. Wastell, who was acting pastor for about two years, until August, 1849. During these two years, seven were received into the membership of the church, among whom appear the names of Henry Whiting, Harriet Rice and John Rankin.

The two following years, from August, 1849, to August, 1851, cover the ground of Rev. H. H. Morgan's pastorate. It was a period of great activity, and we may properly call it the equinoctial storm of this history.

During the first winter of his stay, there was a revival and many were genuinely converted. The services were thronged so that the aisles were full, and many non-church-goers were seen for the first time regularly at church; $400 were raised for his salary, and Deacon Cady was appointed a committee to see to the painting of the house, which was paid for by subscription.

March 3, 1850, forty-six were admitted at one communion service. During Mr. Morgan's first year, no less than seventy united with the church, but during his second year only four united.

In the fall of 1850, the following vote was passed:

"Resolved, 1st, That we make our pastor an honorary member of the A. B. C. F. M., by paying $50 into its treasury.

"2. That we pledge an amount equal to 66 cents per member; our present number is 110. The amount will be not less than $72.50.

"3. That the resolutions be published in the New York Evangelist and Observer, for the encouragement of the board and to excite other churches to emulation."

This generous resolution is the first notice we have of contributions to the benevolent societies. Up to this time, aid had been received regularly from the Home Missionary Society. This good resolution, however, was afterward rescinded and the money used for society purposes, reminding us of the brother who said, "I go sir," but went not. The next year, however, $50 were sent to the American Board. This church was represented by delegates at the council which, in February, 1851, installed Rev. P. R. Hurd over the Congregational Church in Romeo. Under Mr. Morgan the question of building a new church was agitated and strongly favored by the pastor, but no efficient steps were taken.

In January of this year, the plan of rotation in the office of deacon was first adopted. In the spring of 1851, Mr. Morgan was invited to settle as pastor over the church, and accepted conditionally, but in the summer he gave six weeks' notice of his intended resignation, and in August he closed his labors here. Looking back over his two years' work, we admire his zeal and regret that it was not always according to knowledge. He had a sharp sword, but he drew it among his friends, and by indulging in personalities in the pulpit, he roused such strong feeling that fourteen stanch members of the church withdrew in a body after submitting their reasons for so doing in writing to the church.

The foundation of the church sustained the pastor, but all regretted that his preaching was so personally denunciatory. God granted His Spirit until personal feeling entered into the work, and [653] then the Holy Ghost departed. A good number of those who withdrew afterward returned. When Mr. Morgan came, the church had a membership of 43. He left it with a membership of 84.

The church with one month's delay engaged Rev. George M. Tuthill, and in October, 1852, he was regularly installed. In the council that installed him, Rev. H. D. Kitchell was elected chariman and preached the sermon. The charge to the pator was given by Rev. P. R. Hurd and Rev. W. P. Russell gave the charge to the people (the same part which he took in the ordination of the present pastor in 1876, twenty-four year later). Mr. Tuthill's pastorate of seven years was a period of harmonious and normal church life. A decided effort was made in 1853 to raise money for the Home Missionary Society, to which the church was so much indebted for years of assistance.

Monthly subscriptions were started and $75 were collected for the Home Missionary Society. And for a time $100 a year was collected for the American Board. But the zeal gradually diminished, the subscriptions were neglected, and the plan failed.

The church was often compelled to do the work of the society, because the society neglected to do it. The benevolent contributions were better attended to than the pastor's salary - the church being generous before it was just - and the records state that the finances of the society were at loose ends. The records, however, do not show that this church ever failed to fulfill its obligations. The question of building a new church came up for the second time during Mr. Tuthill's stay. Committees were appointed and estimates made, but no agreement could be reached in regard to location. Deacon Reuben Moore volunteered to give one-quarter of the cost, but the subject was finally allowed to drop. Reports from the State Association records show that the Sunday school numbered about one hundred during these seven years. The church numbered in 1852, 74 members; in 1853, 88 members; in 1854, 98 members, and in 1855 it had increased to 100 members. After it was diminished by removals, and when Mr. Tuthill left in 1858, it had a membership of 82. This church was representated in 1858 by Andrew Blakie in the council that installed Rev. J. S. Hoyt pastor over the church at Port Huron. We ought not to fail to mention a revival in the spring of 1852, when union meetings were held and a number were converted, 11 uniting with the church. Up to this time, Sunday services had been held at 10:30 A. M. and 1:30 P. M., with a prayer meeting at 6 o'clock. In August, 1856, the afternoon service was changed to 4 o'clock, and the 6 o'clock prayer meetings omitted, but in October of the same year the church returned to the old plan. In 1857, the services were changed to the hours now in use. A resolution was passed this year that the expenses of the pastor in attending ecclesiastical meetings should be paid from the church funds, but this practice was not continued. An interesting item in regard to the choir appears in the records:

"February, 1858, Mr. S. F. Hopkins, who has long led the singing in the worship of the sanctuary, requests to be released from the duties of leader on account of physical disability to perform them."

The church expressed regret at this announcement, and requested Mr. Hopkins to procure a substitute, or with such assistance as he could get to go on with the choir. On one occasion in the old log court house, Mr. Hopkins was requested by the minister to "raise the tune." He declined, on the ground that the congregation all sang one part, but, on condition that four parts instead of one should be sung, he became the leader of the choir, and filled that position for many years.

Another occurrence was a call upon the Faithful Ladies' Sewing Society for assistance in paying off a debt of $400, due to the pastor. They generously responded, and the debt was paid. The Ladies' Society has been the reserve force of the church all along the way, and has often been called to save the day in the hard-fought battle. When the meeting-house was first built, the pews were sold to individuals to hold as permanent property. In 1857, the majority of the pew owners agreed to surrender their ownership for the benefit of the church, and the pews were rented then by the church. Afterward the seats were made free. Some of the pew owners demurred to the vote to surrender the pews, but the church was in financial straits and no other way seemed to open to them. In November, 1858, owing to financial difficulties in the church, Mr. Tuthill was released from the pastorate by a council; Rev. W. P. Russell was Moderator of the council, and Rev. P. R. Hurd, scribe.

With its usual promptness in choosing a pastor, the church, in July, called Rev. James Vincent, who immediately began a pastorate which lasted four years. Three candidates had been heard before him - Rev. James McLain, Rev. M. Lightbody and Rev. Joseph Peart. The last of these came very near being called to remain. The church at this time made application to the [654] Home Missionary Society for $200 to aid in the minister's salary. It was during Mr. Vincent's pastorate that quarterly collections for benevolent objects were established, the four objects being the Home Missionary Society, the American Board, the Bible Society and the American Tract Society. Seventeen new members were received during these four years. The membership for these four years respectively was 83, 88, 91 and 87. The Sunday school numbered about 100. Mr. Vincent was not installed. In February, 1862, a circular from Chicago aroused the ladies on the subject of Missions; a meeting was called at Mrs. Cady's and the Ladies' Auxiliary Missionary Society was formed. Mr. Vincent resigned in February, 1862, but remained until April.

This year William Grace was chosen to represent the church at the State Association which met at Grand Rapids. Throughout its history, this church has regularly been represented at the meetings of the State Association and the Eastern Conference, except for a small period between 1871 and 1876.

Now comes an interval of eleven months filled up by reading meetings and occasional preaching. Rev. H. S. Clark occupied the pulpit for three months, but the choice fell finally on Rev. L. P. Spellman, who, in March, began his pastorate. The Plymouth collection was adopted as the hymn book.

A memorable event during this pastorate was the meeting of the Eastern Conference in May, 1866. In this year, the cause of the Freedmen was substituted for the Bible cause in the benevolences, and the whole amount of benevolent contributions was $107.65. The standing rules of the church were collected and put into shape. The building was repaired and banked for winter. Mr. Spellman's pastorate was quiet, earnest and enterprising, and resulted in adding thirty-three new members to the church, twenty-five of them on profession. For the four years of his pastorate, respectively, the church numbered eighty-four, eight-eight, ninety-four, ninety-two. The Sunday school numbered seventy-five, eighty, ninety-five, eighty. The increase was about balanced by continual removals of church members. Mr. Spellman was hired by the year and not installed, Mr. Thompson and Mr. Tuthill being the only installed pastors of this church. He closed his labors in the spring of 1863. Rev. W. P. Wastell was then in Port Huron and received a call from the church to be acting pastor for a year. He began his second pastorate here in May, 1867, and remained three years. These three years were the most prosperous in many respects which the church has seen. He found the membership ninety-four and brought it up to 120, the largest number it has ever had. The benevolent contributions averaged nearly $100 a year, except the last year, 1870, for which there is no report and the Sunday school was carried from a membership of ninety-five up to 150 members, the highest number it has ever reached. Evidences of the blessing of God upon the church appear in the records during the period, and many young persons were taken into fellowship, among whom are the names of Josephine Mortinger, George McAdam, Louisa McIntyre, Alice Grace, Mahala Mitchell, Millard Mitchell, Hattie Waterloo, Julia Palmer, T. L. P. Miles, Frank Paris, Edwin Earle, Joseph Johnston, Annie Johnston, Eliphalet Webster, Nancy Webster, Mary Earle. A general revival conducted by Mr. Graves was the occasion of bringing these accessions to the church.

The church lost its watchfulness over this precious flock during the following years when preaching was suspended. The fruits of this revival were gathered into the church, but by its subsequent neglect some of these young converts have wandered far from God, an inevitable result when a church suspends its watchfulness.

The pastorate of Mr. Wastell closed in the spring of 1870, and in June of that year Rev. H. B. Dean was called with the promise of a salary of $1,000, including a donation. The meeting house was again repaired, and it was resolved that "the church looks very much better than before it was renovated," and a general vote of thanks was moved and carried. Mr. Dean's pastorate lasted a year and three months. It was a year of stir and activity, but along with those came troubles. The amount raised for parish expenses was greater than any other year, reaching $1,600, benevolent contributions were $100. Mr. Dean began his ministry under more favorable circumstances than any other minister, but an unfortunate division arose in the church over the character of the pastor, and the bright prospects were not realized. Several dismissions from the church are recorded, but no admissions except that of Mr. Dean. He terminated his work in September, 1871, leaving the church with a membership of 116, and the Sunday school of 145.

A period of three months was then bridged over by reading services, and in December the pulpit was filled again by Rev. George F. Waters, a theological student from Oberlin. The records for [655] 1872 show a serious falling off in membership caused by removals, which reduced the church to sixty-eight members, and the Sunday school to ninety. Mr. Waters spent three months with the church, and did vigorous work which greatly blessed it, but returned to his studies at Oberlin after his vacation had expired. He was here during December, January and February, 1871 and 1872.

The following in regard to the Baptist Church appears:

"October 13, 1872. - The Baptist congregation and their minister Rev. Mr. Deland, will hold their services in our church on Sunday evenings until further notice."

This brotherly act shows the spirit which the Congregational Church has entertained toward the other churches in the place.

Now follows a period of a year and eight months from March, 1872, to November, 1873, in which there was no regular preaching. Calls were extended to Rev. G. F. Waters and Rev. J. F. Ellis, but were not accepted. Letters of dismission decreased the membership to fifty-eight. It was a period of retrograde. But in November of 1873, the wheels began to move again, and Rev. John Van Antwerp became pastor of the church. He remained one year. His pastorate was one of faithful work. No additions are reported, but letters of dismission were frequently granted, and at the end of the year the membership stood fifty-five, while the Sunday School numbered sixty. The five years between September, 1871, and 1876, were the darkest since the old pioneer days. No benevolent contributions were taken. The membership dwindled to fifty-three. The flock was scattered while the fold was empty. Some wandered on the mountains and have never yet returned to fellowship with their spiritual mother. Some grazed in other pastures, wisely deciding not to starve even though their own table was empty. All these days neither sun nor stars appeared, and voices were heard asking whether it were not better to give up the ship. The old pioneer spirit, however, came to the rescue; the honorable and sacred church of nearly a century was not to perish; the Lord whom they sought suddenly came to His temple. After persistent and noble efforts on the part of several, and after one severe disappointment in not securing a pastor, the present pastor was called, and in September, 1876, church work under his ministration regularly began. During the two years between September, 1876, and the present month, the membership of the church has increased from fifty-three to seventy-nine. Thirty-seven have been received, eighteen by letter, and nineteen by profession of their faith. A number have been dismissed by letter. The consitution and by-laws of the church have been remodeled. The society has resumed its regular and distinctive work as a secular body. In the fall of 1876, the meeting house was again repaired and repainted, and the choir seats changed from the rear to the pulpit end of the house. Quarterly contributions for benevolent objects are regularly taken; the contributions for 1877 being in all over $100, and for 1878 they promise to be the largest ever made by the church in one year. The Ladies' Aid Society is thoroughly organized and doing efficient service in the church. The Ladies' Auxiliary Missionary Society raised over $30 last year and hopes to double it during the present year. The pastor's salary has been paid monthly and for the most part promptly. Looking back over the long and checkered years, we see that the hand of God has been over this people. A few of my hearers to-day have trod the whole journey and can remember the first beginnings. Their hair has gathered whiteness during the long journeying, and their eyes dimness, and the hand has learned to tremble, but they can testify that God has blessed this church, and they can testify to the sacrifices which its members have made all along the way, and they can rejoice as the most of us cannot, over the present favorable prospects in which the smile of heaven again rests upon this Zion.

This historical sketch will not be complete without some mention of prominent workers in the church who have died or moved away. Of those now living here, Mr. and Mrs. S. F. Hopkins and Mrs. Deborah Palmer were present at its organization, and Deacon Cady soon after its organization. Among those who are dead or removed the following are worthy of special attention: John Johnson, Sr., Elisha Smith, Dr. Justin Rice, Andrew Blakie, Reuben Moore, Benjamin Bissell, A. Northway, Everett Beardsley, Gen. D. Northrup, Harmon Chamberlin, George Palmer, John Doan.

Reuben Moore united with the church in March, 1850, and from then till the day of his death he gave himself, heart, hand and pocket-book, to the work of the Lord. He was the staff on which the pastor might always lean. When the plan of rotary Deaconship was adopted, he was elected one of the two Deacons and was always unanimously re-elected Deacon of the church until the time of his death. His deeds of liberality and love are too many to mention, but they were continually blessing the church, and the cause of the Lord he delighted to serve, and both he and his faithful wife will always be held in loving remembrance by those who know the history of this church.

[656] Andrew Blakie joined in 1851, by letter, from the Scotch Presbyterian Church in Detroit. He also put his broad Scotch shoulder to the wheel and made himself a power for good. A letter from him to the society, urging them to keep good faith with the pastor in regard to paying his salary, has such a hearty, genuine ring that I would be glad to quote it in full, but lack of time forbids. He became a Deacon in 1852, and was often re-elected to that office.

Dr. Justin Rice and his wife were received in 1846; but, after one year's most valuable service as a pillar of the church, Dr. Rice was removed by death.

Elisha Smith was one of the three Deacons who in 1841 were elected in the newly organized Congregational Church. His name appears often in the records, in committees and among the workers in the front rank. He was called from his work by death in 1847, and "received the promise."

Gen. D. Northup united in 1845, was prominent in church work and a great help in the choir. In 1850, both he and his wife requested and received letters of dismission.

The name of George Palmer appears among the Trustees of the Tabernacle Society at its organization in 1835. He was one of the financial committee during the building period, between 1835-40, and one of the six Trustees of the Congregational Society at the time of its organization in 1841. He died in August, 1859. Another prominent member for a short time was Deacon S. S. Barnard, who united in 1838 and was elected Elder, and in 1841 helped to organize the church in Algonac. Afterward he removed to Detroit and was for years a stanch pillar of the first church in Detroit, both spiritually and financially. He lives in St. Clair in feeble health, but sound in mind and in spirit as in his working days. The others we cannot now mention particularly. Some who are still members of the church have done faithful service for many years, but their work is not yet done and we cannot speak of them here.

A large percentage of those who have formed the body of this church during its history are from New England. Out of a package of letters of dismission from other churches to the Congregational Church of St. Calir, nearly one-half are from the Eastern States. It is remarkable that all of the former pastors of the church are yet living, and all but one are in the State of Michigan. (The whereabouts of Rev. H. H. Morgan are not known to me.)

Is not this a history that should inspire courage and hope and respect for the church among all who value the cause of Christ and appreciate the influence of a church? The two great sins of the past have been allowing personal dissensions to continue in the church and that long suspension between 1871-76, but "let him that is without sin among you cast the first stone."

Amid discouragements and differences and financial weakness and indiscretions in the pulpit and out of it, amid reverses and removals and business depression in the town, amid skepticism and indifference without and financial straits within, through the long famine of 1837, through obstacles that would have crushed any church not having a tenacious faith, this venerable church has held together. She has struggled through them all. For forty-six years she has held up the torch of religion in this town, maintained regular preaching and won a reputation for generosity. With all the faults of the past she has a noble history. By much the oldest church in St. Clair, and the oldest in St. Clair County, her very age is honorable."

The corner-stone of the present Congregational Church of St. Clair was laid with appropriate form, September 3, 1879. The building is of red brick with stone facings, modern Gothic, with a clock tower sixty-six feet high, at the southwest corner. The length of the building is 103 feet, breadth forty-eight feet, and to height of apex of roof fifty feet. The audience room measures 59x40 feet. The pews are arranged in amphitheatrical form, and afford seating capacity for 360. The Sunday school room is 35x26 feet, while the Bible and class rooms, and apartments for secular use in the basement, are large and numerous.

Articles in the corner-stone. An account of organization of the church and its formeffortser to build; a list of officers for 1879; Rev. A. H. Ross' address; Plymouth Collection hymn book; Gospel Songs hymn book; American trade dollar, dated 1878, with the name S. F. Hopkins stamped on it; a copy of Sunday School Times; a copy of the Royal Road; a slip bearing the names of the Governor of Michigan and Mayor of St. Clair; a photograph of the old church; the old pulpit Bible which was presented to the church forty years ago; an old pewter communion cup, in use at Barrington, Mass., for fifty years, and at St. Clair for the forty years ending in 1879; names of United States officers; stamps, religious statistics, and a copy of the St. Clair Republican.

The church property is valued at $15,000. The building committee appointed by the society,

C. McElroy
[Crocket McElroy?]

[657] May 8, 1879, was composed of Mark Hopkins, R. H. Jenks, Crocket McElroy, Frank Moore and George W. Barnard. The present officers of the society are Rev. Clarence Eddy, pastor; S. F. Hopkins, Mark Hopkins, William Grace, R. H. Jenks, C. F. Moore and P. A. Cady, Trustees. The present membership is stated to number 115.

FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.

The first movement toward a Baptist Church in St. Clair County was made in the township of China, south of the city. The Rev. Y. Z. R. Jones began work here in 1835. Afterward Rev. E. K. Grout came to the pastorate of the church in China and a church in Newport (now Marine City) a branch of the China church. He began a service in St. Clair at the old log court house. This led to the organization of the church, November 5, 1848. The original members were Rufus Swift, John M. Oakes, Daniel Stewart, Minerva Oakes, Elizabeth Swift, Mary Nicols and Maria C. Eldridge. Of these orginial seven members, Mrs. Mary Nicol, the wife of John Nicol, owner of the woolen mills of this city, is the only one now living. During the whole history of the church she has been a faithful laborer. The officers of the infant organization were, Pastor, E. K. Grout; Deacon, Rufus Swift; Clerk, Daniel Stewart. One of the earliest acts of the church was the adoption of a temperance resolution, February 24, 1849, reading as follows: "Resolved, That as a Church of Christ, we will not admit any person to membership with us that makes an habitual use of intoxicating drinks as a beverage, and that we will carry the amount of our influence, moral and religious, to effectually remove the evil of intemperance from the world." The spirit of this resolution has been kept alive in the church through all its history, and at every covenant meeting the temperance pledge is solemnly renewed, being incorporated into the covenant itself. On account of the failing health of pastor Grout, Rev. Nelson Eastwood was called as pastor of the church, and began his labors November 30, 1850. In June, 1856, we find Rev. Silas Finn as pastor of the church. His pastorate was a long and successful one of nearly ten years. In the spring of 1866, Rev. D. C. Marybin became the pastor. On January 6, 1869, William A. Kingsbury was called to the pastorate, and June 24 of that year a council of the neighboring Baptist Churches was convened with the church of St. Clair, and Brother Kingsbury was ordained to the work of the Gospel ministry. April 4, 1874, Brother Peter Cary was called to the pastorate, and on June 18, following, he was ordained by a council convened for that purpose. On account of failing health, he served only a little over a year. June 5, 1878, Rev. Edward Blanchard was called to the pastorate and served nearly two years. He was followed February 14, 1877, by Rev. Henry Carroll. In November, 1878, Rev. J. Hall, D. D., of Port Huron, was engaged as permanent supply, and served as such for a year. At the close of this service the church enjoyed only occasional preaching until October, 1880. They were at this time very much discouraged by a debt that had rested upon them from the dedication of the church in 1874. On account of the financial depressions of these years, many subscriptions had failed, and a debt of over $600 on the now weak church was the consequence. It had been reduced in strength by both removal and death, and this amount small in itself, hung like a vampire over them. At this time, however (October 20, 1880), they secured the services of Rev. S. Hendrick, and began again in faith. The sisters took hold of the matter, the debt was soon raised, and the church moved on with the enthusiasm of former days. The present membership is fifty-six. The present officers are: Pastor, S. Hendrick; Deacons, M. A. Cook, H. A. Cusick; Clerk, D. K. Oakes; Treasurer, Mrs. B. A. Jenks.

The Sunday school numbers about eighty and is in a flourishing condition.

The first meeting house was built about 1851 or 1852. There are no records to be found of the exact date. This house stood upon the present site of the church - Fourth street, between Trumbull and Cass. It was destroyed by fire, March, 1870, and was rebuilt in 1873. It is of brick, 40x70 feet. The audience room is twenty feet high, and will comfortably seat three hundred people. The basement contains a lecture room, parlor, kitchen and pantry. The building is well heated by furnaces. It was a fine building at the time of its erection, with a tower and spire on the southeast front corner. The present value of the house is $6,000, although when built, in 1873, it cost over $10,000.

PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

Trinity Church, St. Clair City, was organized in 1848. In 1845, Rev. Phineas D. Spaulding visited the village and preached to the congregation from 1845 to 1847, when the society was organized. In 1849, Rev. Milton Ward came, and remained until 1854. He was succeeded by Rev. George B. Engle, in 1855; Rev. G. B. Hayden, in 1860; Rev. Osgood E. Fuller, in 1861; [658] Rev. Joseph Pritchard, in 1862; Rev. Thomas Dooley succeeded Mr. Pritchard. In 1876, Rev. A. B. Flower took charge of the parish and served until 1880. The church edifice, a small brick building near the Union School, was built in 1854. The parsonage was built in 1867. The church building was destroyed by fire in 1873, and since that time services have been held in the City Hall.

In March, 1875, a meeting of the members of Trinity Church was held at St. Clair. D. D. O'Dell, A. L. Padfield, Joseph George, S. B. Brown, Henry Luck, James McJennett, John E. Kitton, George I. Ward and Alexander Bartley were elected Vestrymen. A committee was elected, consisting of John I. Kitton, S. B. Brown and D. D. O'Dell, to take steps to build a church edifice on the grounds belonging to the parish. Whatever action was taken by this committee is not known; in any case a house of worship was not erected. Now, however, with the revival of industry and the growth of religious enterprise, there is every reason to hope that still another Christian temple may be added to those of which the city now boasts.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

The Methodist Episcopal Society of St. Clair was organized in 1850, by Rev. J. S. Smart. The new Methodist Episcopal Church of St. Clair was dedicated May 22, 1870. Rev. J. S. Smart conducted the dedicatory services. The reverend gentleman related some reminiscences of his pastoral labor in St. Clair twenty years ago, when he organized the Methodist Episcopal Society of St. Clair. His earnest, eloquent and humorous appeal to the members and others present for funds to free the church from debt was a master-piece of persuasive Christian argument and entreaty, and resulted in over $7,000 being subscribed in the church. At a meeting of the Sabbath school in the afternoon over $100 were subscribed by the children, which goes to liquidate the debt on the new organ. The evening services were opened with prayer by Rev. T. C. Higgins. This was followed by singing, after which the Presiding Elder, Rev. T. G. Potter, delivered an able and learned discourse, which showed depth of mind and liberality of views. Subscriptions were again taken up and over $1,000 was raised, the total amount, nearly $9,000, being more than sufficient to pay all debts on the edifice. The dedicatory service was then performed by the Rev. Mr. Smart, the Trustees being ranged in front of the altar, and solemnly charged to dedicate themselves to the cause of Christ; Henry Whiting acted as sponsor for the Church.

The description of the building is as follows: "The first thing which attracts the attention of the visitor is the admirable arrangement of the seats, which, like those in most churches built within the past few years, are arranged in a semi-circle or concave form, so that nearly every person seated faces the pulpit. There are three aisles, one in the center, and one on each side of the apartment. On each side of the center aisle are thirty-one pews, and also three on the north side of the pulpit, making sixty-five pews in all, with a seating capacity for 425 persons. At the eastern end of the nave is a gallery, some ten feet deep, and extending the entire width of the church. In this gallery are six pews, which will seat from ninety to one hundred, making a total seating capacity in the auditorium of over 500. The choir will be seated in chairs, on the south side of the pulpit. The seats are of pine and whitewood, with cherry rails and black walnut elbows at the ends. The backs are of matched lumber and the boards are stained alternately in imitation of mahogany, oak, cherry, maple and walnut. The cherry rails and the ends of the seats where they front the aisles, are stained in imitation of mahogany, and the varying but genereally dark and warm tints give the body of the room a peculiarly fine and rich appearance. An open box consisting of slats extending two-thirds of the length of the pew, is placed at the back of each seat, and is an improvement over the common narrow shelf or desk in general use for holding Bibles, hymn-books, etc. The wainscoting around the room, as well as the wainscot paneling in front of the gallery, are stained in imitation of different kids of wood, similar to the backs of the seats. The pulpit is a simple but elegant desk of black walnut, with panels corresponding to the backs of the seat. The platform on which it stands (on which also is placed the seats for the choir) is about ten feet deep, fifteen inches above the floor, and is enclosed by a railing of black walnut. We here make bold to express our opinion that the bare, blank, white wall on the west (or pulpit) side of the room, produces an impression of incompleteness which the otherwise excellent appearance of the interior fails to entirely remove. The accoustic properties of the room, as tested during our visit, are not good, there being a reverberatory echo which will doubtless prove a source of annoyance, if not rectified by a sounding-board over the pulpit. It is said, however, that when the room is filled that this defect will not be so observable. The windows in the auditorium are twelve in number, which, [659] with four in the tower, at the eastern side, sufficiently light the room. They are of stained glass, and the effect is very beautiful and pleasing to the eye. The design in the center is a fillgree-like tracery of drab, bordered with a vine of the same color, of a darker tint; surrounding this is a lemon-colored strip of oak leaves and acorns, which in turn is bordered with marginal lines of blue, ruby, green and pink. The window-casings are imitation maple, with an ouside molding of mahogany. The doors at the head of the north and south staircases have maple panels and oak stiles. The plastering is very good throughout, the walls and ceiling having the best kind of pure white 'hard finish,' and where they meet is molded a broad and graceful cornice, while overhead are three plaster 'centers,' with hooks in the middle to sustain chandeliers. The free circulation of pure air, which should form an important feature in all public buildings, has been amply provided for, there being two ventilators in the walls, and four close to the floor, in different parts of the room. The carpet on the floor is of green and salmon color, diamond pattern, and harmonizes with the fittings and general appearance of the room. The damask seat covers are of a similar color and pattern. The best efforts of the painter's art, however, are outside the auditorium. The wainscoting on the staircase and vestibule is beautifully grained in close imitation of mottled and bird's-eye maple, relieved with mahogany rails and cap-moldings. The graining of the door at the main entrance is said by good judges to be first-class. It is grained in imitaion of mahogany, with bird's-eye maple panels. The rooms on the lower floor are plain and serviceable apartments."

CATHOLIC CHURCH OF ST. CLAIR.

The beginnings of the church at this point are noted in the history of the church at Port Huron. In 1863, St. Clair and Marysville were organized as a parish, and Rev. Francis Van der Bom appointed pastor. Under his direction a brick house of worship was erected in 1864 at a cost of $13,000. In 1866, Rev. J. Reichenbach was appointed pastor of St. Clair by Bishop Lefevere, and held the charge up to the summer of 1882, when an Episcopal interdict was laid on the church and its doors closed to the people. Early in December, 1882, the principal members of the congregation joined in an effort to have this interdict removed, and in compliance with their petition Bishop Borgess ordered the re-establishment of worship to be observed in December, 1882.

THE PROTESTANT METHODISTS.

It is perhaps not generally known that the religious society known as the Methodists, formerly named Methodist Protestants, had become a numerous and influential body in 1869-70. The association is known as the "St. Clair Circuit," and under the charge of Rev. J. D. Schults. In his charge were three appointments each Sabbath as follows: At the Court House at St. Clair every Sabbath at 2 o'clock in the afternoon; alternating each Sabbath at the following places: At Boman street schoolhouse at half-past 10 o'clock in the forenoon; at the town line schoolhouse, about five miles west of the city, at 7 o'clock in the evening; at the Canada settlement schoolhouse at 10 o'clock in the forenoon, and at Bell River schoolhouse, in China, at 7 o'clock in the evening. The number of members in this circuit in March, 1870, was 119, being an increase of 43 since the middle of November, 1869, when the minister took charge of the circuit. Two donations were held in 1870 - one at the Canada settlement, in January, 1870, the proceeds netting $110; and one in Boman street, in March, netting $85. The society pruchased the site for a new church in this city, just West of the Catholic Church, and intended erecting a new brick church in the summer of 1870. The State was divided into two districts called the "Michigan Conference" and the "Western Michigan Conference," each having a President as its official head, to perform the duties usually developing on a Presiding Elder, in addition to presiding at the annual conference, a conference of this, the Michigan Conference, was held at Pontiac in August, 1869, and the next meeting was held at Richfield, in Genesee County, commencing the first Tuesday of September, 1870. One lay member for each minister attends from each circuit and composes the conference. Adrian College was under the auspices of this denomination and was located within the conference, presided over by Prof. Mahan, an eminent educator and author.

The first organization of the Methodist Church in this State was at the village of Franklin, Oakland County, in 1843, thirteen years after the separation from the Methodist Episcopal Church. It was then called the "Methodist Protestant Church," which was subsequently changed to "Methodist Church" in the fall of 1866 at the General Conference in Pittsburgh, Penn. The Methodist [660] Church does not differ from the Methodist Episcopal in points of faith of doctrine, the difference consists solely in church polity - the latter, as its name indicates, having an Episcopal, while the former has a representative form of government. In 1870, there were twenty-eight conferences in the Northern States, with a membership of about 100,000. There are two conferences in Michigan, which are divided by the meridian line of the State, the eastern, called the "Michigan Conference," and the other the "Western Conference." This (the Michigan) conference has thrity-six circuits, with fifty itinerant ministers, and a membership of over 3,000, being an increase of 1,000 since last year. In St. Clair County, there are four circuits, named respectively, Berlin, St. Clair, Brockway and Kimball, with a total membership of 550. The St. Clair Circuit comprised the territory in the county lying between the Grand Trunk Railway and the St. Clair River, and was under the care of Rev. J. D. Schults. He reported a membership of about 100; but the St. Clair Circuits were unable to erect churches until the summer of 1870, when one was built at St. Clair, and one commenced to be built on the Berlin Circuit.

The German Evangelist Lutheran, Lutheran and Presbyterian Churches claim representatives in the city.

SCHOOLS.

Notwithstanding a few childless croakers who have, during many years, never failed to do what they could to cripple the efficiency of the schools of the village and city, St. Clair has, with one or two unimportant exceptions, always maintained a liberality toward her educational institutions which is a credit to the good sense of her citizens and a precious benefit to the young who have grown up in her midst. Excellent teachers have generally been procured, and ample accommodations provided for the children in every quarter of the city.

In former times, parents were compelled, by circumstances, to consult their resources rather than their desires, and during several years the cause of education was in any but a flourishing condition. When, however, once the limits prescribed by inexorable necessity were overcome, and the inhabitants began to accumulate faster than they expended, a lively interest was taken in all educational matters, and school affairs received the earnest attention and support of the foremost citizens. This was not spasmodic, but was continued more than a quarter of a century, to which the city is indebted for her fine school buildings, thorough organization of teachers, and admirable system of grading.

The first schoolhouse erected in what is now the city of St. Calir, stood near the site of C. A. Loomis' house. Previously, Mr. Phillips, Sr., granted a room in his house to Rev. Mr. Donohue for school purposes. In the statistics of the county the present condition of the city schools is noted.

Somerville School. - It is the aim of this institution to provide for the liberal education of young women, and to keep its methods of instruction in harmony with the most enlightened views of education. It aims also to furnish a thorough preparation for the pursuit of college courses, and to provide a sound, practical education. Its purpose is also to make the expense of pursuing a course of liberal study as low as is consistent with a high degree of excellence in its results, and thus to keep a liberal education within the reach of young women. It is likewise the earnest purpose to conduct the institution on distinctively Christian principles, and to have it pervaded with a strong and healthy moral and religious influence. While aiming at the best results of intellectual training, its instructors will ever bear in mind that character is more than these, that the development of character is an essential part of the work of an educational institution, and that there is no sound basis of character except in Christian principle.

This important educational establishment was inaugurated by Mrs. Caroline F. Ballentine at Port Huron. In September, 1879, the plan on which the school at Port Huron was conducted, together with a prospectus of the school near St. Clair City, were submitted to James B. Agnell, Henry S. Freize, C. K. Adams and M. C. Tyler of the University of Michigan, which drew forth their expressions of confidence in the plan and the ladies to whom its execution would be entrusted.

In the summer of 1880, the following circular letter was issued:

Recognizing the usefulness, and the great need of symmetrical and harmonious training in the education of the young women of our land through the judicious combination of courses of work in the lines of moral, physical, mental and industrial development, as set forth by the announcement of the "Somerville School" in the autumn of 1879, and in a measure proved by a year of successful work, we the undersigned have interested ourselves in this institution, and have caused its incorporation and permanent location at St. [661] Clair, Mich. Commending the out line of its aims in the directions of literary, physical, and industiral development to your careful and early attention, we remain.

	Respectfully Yours,
		BELA W. JENKS,	SAMUEL HOPKINS,
		HENRY WHITING,	MARK HOPKINS,
		JOHN C. CLARKE,	ROBERT H. JENKS,
		WILLIAM GRACE,	CHARLES F. MOORE,
		FRANKLIN MOORE,	JUSTIN R. WHITING,
St. Clair, July 1, 1880.		CROCKET McELROY,	ORRIN K. HOPKINS.

The gentlemen who signed this letter form the Board of Trustees.

The officers of the school are: Caroline F. Ballantine, Superintendent; Emma M. Farrand, Ph. M., Principal of Literary Department, English Literature and History; Joel C. Tyler, M. A., Ancient Languages, Mathematics. In the Department of Music are Mrs. Sophie D. Knight, teacher of Voice Culture; and Miss Pauline Widenmann, teacher of Piano forte. The Art Department is presided over as follows: Techinical and Objective Art, Mary A. Thompson; Lectures on Art, its Ethics and Philosophy, Mrs. L. H. Stone; Classes in Art, History and Description, C. F. Ballentine, and S. F. Dwyer, Assistant Pupil; Misses Wright, Howard, Dwyer, are the Leaders of Gymnastic and Calisthenic Drill; Mrs. Louisa M. Gaylord is Superintendent of Household.

An outlined plan of the school was placed before President Angell and some of the leading professors of the University of Michigan in September, 1879. No name had then been decided upon. Dr. Angell's suggestion that the name of Mary Somerville would be an especially suitable one for a school whose aim was announced as "symmetrical development" was regarded as a most happy thought, and was adopted.

It can be truly said, that in the entire Union there is not an institution for the higher education of women more perfect in its management than this. All must agree with the Trustees in their statement that the entire plan of the school is an excellent one, and instead of being in a "by place," the situation, directly on the banks of one of the most beautiful rivers in the world, in sight of boats constantly passing during all the months of the year when the river is open, is one of the most beautiful in the world. The natural situation is admirable for the establishment of a Vassar, or Smith's, or Wellesley college. Such a school would not injure or draw away from any good school now existing in the State. The specialties of the school above referred to which make it in some repects different from most of the boarding schools or seminaries in the State, will create its patronage. All the school needs is money endowment. Whether in the rapidly increasing wealth of Michigan, the generous impulse of some man or men shall be directed to permanently endow such a school as this aims to be, and in one of the loveliest places that could be found for such a school in the wide range of our country, from west to east or north to south, remains to be seen.

If some Mr. Vassar should arise, with the generous promptings to endow a school on the banks of the St. Clair River, affording the advantages of Vassar College to the young women of Michigan, barring the disgraceful restriction that accompanied the last gift of Matthew Vassar for the building of an observatory, viz., that no women should be employed to teach in the department those funds were given to establish, and this right in the face of the grand and noble attainments of Maria Mitchel - barring such restrictions to donation or bequest as this, Michigan should hold in grateful and everlasting honor the name of that man who would establish on the banks of the St. Clair the Somerville School on as broad and sure a foundation as is Vassar College on the banks of the Hudson.

In November, 1882, Somerville School issued a neatly printed circular annoucing a special course of study occupying six months of time from January to June, 1883. Selections for the course can be made from the following studies in the Belles Lettres Course: Reviews in Ancient History; History of Arts of Architecture, Sculpture, Painting and Music; History of German Literature; History of French Literature; Reading from Sismondi's Literatures of Southern Europe; study of four Greek Plays; study of four Shakespearean Plays; Lectures upon the Origin, History and Philosophy of Art. Students in this course can also make use of the superior advantages offered in the Art, Music and Needle Work Departments, all of which will be found complete, with every facility for the successful prosecution of study. The terms for instruction in three English studies, including board, have been placed at $215 for the course.

SOCIAL, BENEVOLENT AND COMMERCIAL SOCIETIES.

The Ladies' Library Association of St. Clair City was organized March 7, 1869, with the following members: Cassandra P. Clarke, Frances Robinson, Minnie F. Owen, Helen Woodruff, Sarah [662] B. Owen, Mary Robertson, Eliza Barron, Eugenie Bendit, Helen C. Blood, Hattie E. Agens, Julia Morrill and Mary J. St. Clair. C. P. Clarke was President; Frances Robinson, Vice President; M. F. Owen, Recording Secretary; Helen Woodruff, Corresponding Secretary; Sarah B. Owen, Treasurer; Addie Ladd, Librarian. The society has been carried down to the present time in its career of usefulness. In November, 1882, the receipt of a donation of fifty-four volumes from Mrs. W. S. Hopkins, of Detroit, was acknowledged. This is the largest donation ever made by one individual and the ladies desire to extend to Mrs. Hopkins their thanks for the favor.

Young People's Union. - An association of young people, under this name, was organized in the lecture room of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in March, 1870. The object of the Young People's Union was to embrace within its organization the musical and other talent of the city necessary to the efficient getting up of concerts, tableaux, charades and like entertainments. The society was a social as well as musical one, and free from denominational influences in its workings. The services of the society were given gratuitously on such occasions as church concerts, festivals, etc. The musical amateurs of all denominations in the city were invited to join the organization. Musical works of the best class were procured and the members entered on a course of study and practice. The following officers were elected: President, C. H. Woodruff; Vice President, Mrs. J. R. Whiting; Treasurer, Mrs. John S. Woodruff; Secretary, T. P. Miles. The Union continued to prosper until its members entered other societies or left the city.

The Lyceum. - St. Clair Union Lyceum was organized November 22, 1865, with Albert J. Chapman, President; John C. Clark, Vice President; J. Ward Hill, Secretary; William R. Owen, Treasurer; Rev. L. P. Spellman, Censor. H. P. Wands, William Grace and T. C. Owens formed the committee on debates.

A Grange was organized in this township in March, 1875. The first meeting was held in the Bartlett Schoolhouse on Pine River, when about forty persons were admitted to membership. By a vote of the lodge the next meeting was decided to be held at the Lindsay House in Smith's Creek. The following officers were elected and duly installed: W. M., B. R. Mallory; W. O., Moses Hart; W. L., Robert Bowie; W. S., George Beach; W. A. S., Joseph Lindsay; W. C., C. J. Mallory; W. T., P. M. Brown; W. Sec., W. B. Mallory; W. G. K., Roderick Hubble; W. Ceres, Mrs. J. Lindsay, Mrs. R. Hubble, Lorane Hull and Clara Mallory. At this period the township was casting off the robes of the lumber woods to embrace those of cultivated gardens and fields.

The Red Ribbon Club. - The Red Ribbon movement was fully organized at St. Clair in 1877. Previous to that year, however, effort after effort was made to inculcate the beauties of temperance. In May, 1877, a Red Ribbon Club of 151 members was organized with the following named officers: President, Frederick H. Blood; First Vice President, George C. Solis; Second Vice President, Charles E. Solis; Third Vice President, James Harvey; Secretary, James Bishop; Assistant Secretary, Bruce Fairman; Financial Secretary, William Luck; Treasurer, John C. Clarke; Steward, Joseph Johr; Marshals, John Jackson, Frederick Canan; Sergeant-at-Arms, Thomas Spaulding; Executive Committee, Bruce Fairman, William Grace, George Akred, William McCardle, T. L. P. Miles; Financial Committee, Solomon Gilbert, J. R. Whiting, James Armstrong.

SECRET SOCIETIES.

Evergreen Lodge, No. 9, dates its existence from April 25, 1843, when a number of residents of the village of Palmer and neighborhood met at the house of Sargeant Heath to organize a Masonic Lodge. Among those present were John K. Smith, Samuel Ward, S. Granger, E. Fay, Sargeant Heath, C. Simmons, P. G. Wright, M. Shearn, J. W. Granger, T. M. Perry and A. C. Smith. The first move toward organization was made and the meeting adjourned to June 24. The dispensation was granted by John Mullett, G. M. of the State, February 26, 1844, and Reuben Hamilton appointed to organize. The first meeting under this dispensation was held at David Whitman's house, April 24, 1844. Subsequent meetings were held at various places until August 23, when a room was provided in Sargeant Heath's house. There meetings were held until October, 1845. The first officers of the Lodge under dispensation are named as follows: Reuben Hamilton, W. M.; Israel Carleton, S. W.; Charles Kimball, J. W.; James Woolverton, Secretary; Sargeant Heath, Treasurer; Edmund Carleton, S. D., and James A. W. Donohue, J. D. The total number of members was fourteen. Charles Kimball represented the Lodge in the Grand Lodge, to obtain the charter of 1845. The place of meeting was changed from Heath's house October 15, 1845, to a room in that of S. B. Brown. The charter was granted June 4, 1845, and on June 24 D. G. M. Hall installed the following named [663] officers: Reuben Hamilton, W. M.; Israel Carleton, S. W.; Charles Kimball, J. W.; Sargeant Heath, Treasurer; S. B. Brown, Secretary; Edmund Carleton, S. D.; J. B. Flanagan, J. D., and Edward Hodgson, Tiler. The W. M.'s and Secretaries of the Lodge from 1845 to the present time are named in the following list:

1845 - Reuben Hamilton, W. M.; S. B. Brown, Secretary; 1846, Israel Carleton, Charles Kimball; 1847, Israel Carleton, Charles Kimball; 1848, Abram Bean, S. B. Brown; 1849, James T. Copeland, John Raymond; 1850, S. B. Brown, John Raymond; 1851, S. B. Brown, James True; 1852, William Cook, James True; 1853, William Cook, Charles Kimball; 1854, S. B. Brown, John A. Sanborn; 1855, S. B. Brown, A. C. Van Buren; 1856, S. B. Brown, F. H. Blood; 1857, S. B. Brown, F. H. Blood; 1858, S. B. Brown, A. A. Carleton; 1859-60, A. J. Cummings, James A. Steele; 1861-62, G. L. Cornell, H. T. Barringer; 1862-63, M. H. Miles, J. C. Corbishley; 1863-64, D. D. O'Dell, Friend Palmer; 1864-65, D. D. O'Dell, Robert Scott; 1866-67, D. D. O'Dell, Robert Scott; 1868-70, Joseph Stitt, G. J. Ward; 1870-71, A. L. Badfield, G. J. Ward; 1871-72, D. D. O'Dell, G. J. Ward; 1872-73, D. D. O'Dell, G. J. Ward; 1873-74, D. D. O'Dell, G. J. Ward; 1874-75, D. D. O'Dell, G. J. Ward; 1875-76, D. D. O'Dell, G. J. Ward; 1876-77, Simon Langell, G. J. Ward; 1877-78, J. H. Smith, G. J. Ward; 1878-79, James S. Harrington, G. J. Ward; 1879-80, D. D. O'Dell, James S. Harrington; 1880-81, D. D. O'Dell, G. J. Ward; 1881-82, A. J. Cummings, James S. Harrington.

The members of the lodge reported deceased were: Henry Cook, Sergeant Company B, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, in the Mexican war, died at Cordova, Mexico, April 19, 1848. Sargeant Heath, one of the charter members, died in 1849. The deaths of James B. Woolverton and Gustavus V. Johnson occurred in 1854. The record points out their interment with Masonic honors, June 5, that year. The funeral of Israel Carleton, P. M., took place March 5, 1857. William Cook, P. M., died October 11, 1858, and was buried October 13. Christian Hubble died September 12, and was interred the following day, 1859. Edwin Hodgson died December 6, 1861; Daniel E. Solis died December 29, 1861; Edmund Carleton died March 19, 1871; John Clark died February 3, 1876; Abijah Beard died May 25, 1876; George L. Cornell died May 23, 1877; John Kennedy died December 22, 1877; Jerome T. Brown died April, 1879; D. D. O'Dell died March 3, 1881.

Dimits were granted to David Gallagher, P. G. Wright, D. D. O'Dell, Samuel Ward, S. B. Parker and B. F. Owen, January 19, 1853, who were recommended to the Grand Lodge for dispensation to form the Sam Ward Lodge, at Newport, now called Marine City.

Palmer Lodge, K. of P. - The organization of Palmer Lodge took place March 11, 1875.

N. S. Boynton, of Port Huron, Dept. Grand Chancellor of the Grand Lodge of the Knights of Pythias of Michigan, together with about thirty-five officers and members of the lodges of Port Huron, of the same order, visited St. Clair, and in the evening met at the Masonic Hall and organized Palmer Lodge, with the following charter members: John H. Fulton, B. F. Crampton, J. J. Worden, John Chamberlain, W. B. Milard, E. M. Chamberlin, John M. Williams, W. H. Little, George J. Ward, Alexander Stone, Calvin Chamberlain, Tim. L. P. Miles, E. K. Hungerford, A. V. Palmer, A. A. Currie, B. W. Gossage and John E. Kitton. The following officers of Palmer Lodge, K. of P., were then elected: Past Chancellor, Willoughby B. Millard; Chancellor Commander, George L. Cornell; Vice Chancellor, James J. Worden; Prelate, W. H. Little; Master of Finance, John E. Kitton; Master of Exchequer, E. M. Chamberlin; Master at Arms, Tim. L. P. Miles; Inner Guard, John Chamberlain; Outer Guard, Alexander Stone; Keeper of Records and Seats, George J. Ward.

The Port Huron Knights were in full uniform and presented a very fine appearance.

The lodge was incorporated May 17, 1879, under authority of charter granted January 26, 1876. The original members were David P. Ingles, Elon J. Hall, A. B. Flower, George C. Solis, Ethan E. Trimm, T. L. P. Miles, Ed. M. Chamberlin, Thomas J. Millikin, Charles G. Robertson and W. B. Morse. The present officers are A. H. Brown, C. C.; C. J. Mitchell, V. C.; S. P. Gilbert, V. C.; A. A. Currie, P. C.; Rev. S. Hendricks, P.; T. L. P. Miles, K. R. and S.; J. G. Wortz, M. of E.; E. E. Trimm, M. of F.; A. A. Carleton, A. A.; W. B. Morse, I. G., and O. G., Stephen Langell. O. F. Morde is Secretary and Treasurer of the Endowment Bank of Knights of Pythias, and has held that position since its organization.

A Lodge of Good Templars was organized in October, 1877, with W. Baird, W. C. T., and Miss Dora Cornell, W. V. T.

[664] St. Clair Commandery, No. 4, Order of the Red Cross was organized at St. Clair, July 27, 1882, with John Hare, Commander.

Evergreen Lodge, No. 9, F. & A. M., was chartered in 1844. This lodge is one of the oldest in Michigan. Connected with it in olden times were many of the pioneers. James S. Harrington is the Secretary.

The Brakeman Park Club, of St. Clair, was organized in August, 1880, for the purpose of leasing and owning suitable grounds in the Township of St. Clair for summer residences, recreation and amusement. The first officers of the club were, G. C. Meisel, President; J. E. Miller, Vice President; L. A. Sherman, Secretary, and H. G. Barnum, Treasurer. The capital stock was $800.

BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS.

The St. Clair Navigation Company was organized April 5, 1881, with a capital stock of $75,000. The principal shareholders were Myron Kenyon, H. K. McQueen, John E. Robertson, Robert H. Jenks and Bela W. Jenks.

The Lake Michigan Transportation Company was organized October 8, 1870, with a capital of $100,000, of which $70,000 were paid in at date of incorporation. The shareholders were B. F. Owen, Marine City, 800 shares of $25 each; Justin R. Whiting, St. Clair, 800 shares; T. C. Owen, St. Clair, 800 shares; O. W. Potter, Chicago, Ill., 800 shares; Ira H. Owen, Chicago, Ill., 800 shares.

The Nicoll Woolen Mill Company of St. Clair City was organized May 13, 1879, by John Nicoll, Mark Hopkins, Orrin K. Hopkins, John C. Clark and Thomas J. Nicoll, with a capital stock of $20,000.

The People's Trade Association of St. Clair was organized at St. Clair August 18, 1874, with Myron Kenyon, President; Josiah Smith, Vice President; Ed. T. Solis, Secretary; and Gabriel S. Holbert, Treasurer.

The Michigan Transportation Company, with office located at Star Island, was organized in March, 1875, with D. Gallagher, Robert Holland, Mary M. Gallagher, Henry Butteroni and D. C. Gallagher, incorporators.

The Conroy Patent Wheel and Carriage Manufacturing Company, of St. Clair City, was incorporated and recorded March 4, 1872, with Diodorus Sheldon, John L. Agens, John E. Kitton, Charles H. Westcott, Bart W. Conroy, stockholders.

The St. Clair Spoke Works, established August 28, 1877, with Walter Ford, Joel B. Smith, Crocket McElroy, Mark Hopkins and Charles T. Moore, stockholders.

The Oakland Company was organized in 1881. References are made in other sections of this work to the industries of which Crocket McElroy and others are the heads.

THE OAKLAND HOUSE.

This house is the product of local enterprise. It was opened in 1881, with Andrew Maxwell, manager. He was succeeded by S. W. Delano. In May, 1882, Charles H. Southwick was appointed Manager, with Oscar H. Morse, Secretary, and Walter Hopkins, Treasurer. The management of the house during the summer of 1882 proved beyond doubt the success which attends ability in this industry. At times during the year, the guests numbered no less than 250, and yet there was no boisterous hurry evident; each department was carried on with singular precision. The employes are all thoroughly acquainted with first-class hotels, and under the direction of Mr. Southwick leave nothing undone to render the working of each department perfect in detail. Seymour A. Smith, favorably known in the hotel circles of Michigan, is clerk. The number of employes averages forty, ranging from fifty during the summer, to thirty during the winter months. The house contains 100 bedrooms, furnished in black-walnut, and supplied with closets, electric bells and fire alarms. The hotel office, reading rooms and company's office are all arranged with a view to convenience. The ladies' parlor is a large, elegantly furnished apartment. The large and small dining rooms are very fine halls, tasty in all their furnishings. The large reception room, now being fitted up, gives promise of forming the leading room of the hotel. The hallways, all broad, extend about 2,000 feet, and connect with the verandahs, which are over 1,000 feet in length. The entire building is heated by steam and lighted by gas. A hydraulic elevator, together with broad, easy stairways, lead to the upper floors. The house is telephonically connected with the principal cities of Michigan, and also with Toledo, Ohio. The laundry, south of the main building, is run by steam, the machinery is modern, and [665] the employes experienced. The new mineral well, bored to a depth of 1,100 feet, was completed in 1882. The pumping-house and tower form a neat addition to the building. The boiler and machinery houses form in themselves agreeable as well as instructive smoking or loafing rooms. The mineral springs and the atmospheric phenomena which mark their existence always form an interesting topic. These remarkable springs, although until within a few years comparatively unknown to the outside world, have a reputation which antedates the present century, and have been used by the native population as a health resort for hundreds of years. To-day they are visited by thousands, who leave the beautiful resort convinced of their curative properties. The following is a comparative analysis of the water.

MINERAL SALTS.	St. Clair Mineral Springs Grains Per Gallon.	Arkansas Hot Springs Grains Per Gallon.	Nauheim, Hesse-Cassel. Grosse Sprudel. Grains Per Gallon.
Sodic chloride	17653.230	.1339	1449.920
Sodic sulphate	167.500	.0890	....
Calcic chlorida	817.170	....	118.880
Calcic sulphate	96.200	.7541	3.040
Calcic carbonate	23.800	3.6098	131.040
Magnesic chlorida	991.290	.1870	20.800
Magnesic carbonate	....	....	1.200
Magnesic bromate	....	....	.560
Potassic chlorida	....	....	32.160
Potassic sulphate	....	.3608	....
Iron protocarbonate	....	....	4.000
Iron sulphide	.996	.0968	....
Silica and alumina	4.200	2.3122	4.480
Total Grains	19754.386	7.5436	1766.080
Hydric sulphate (gas)	52.073	....	56.16 cub. in.

The medicinal effect of the water seems to be laxative, diuretic and tonic. Physicians recommend its use for dyspepsia, rheumatism, faulty action of the liver and functional derangements of the kidneys and bowels. The water is very saline to the taste, but becomes grateful after frequent use. Its value in the bath is undoubted.

The bath house is just south of the hotel and connected with it. There are thirty-five rooms, each supplied with a large porcelain tub, fresh water, and hot and cold mineral water, electric bell and wardrobe. In the ladies' rooms there is a neatly furnished dressing room off each bath room, ladies' and gentlemen's waiting rooms, physician's office, and rooms for the attendants. Beyond the bath rooms is a suit of appartments called invalid's recreation rooms. The entire house is heated by steam, an equal temperature being observed throughout, so that there is every precaution taken to insure the comfort of visitors. The bath house and waiting rooms are in stained pine, elaborately finished, showing both architectural and mechanical taste in every point. This bath department is next to the celebrated bath houses at Baden Baden. Below the principal bath rooms are turkish and plunge baths. There are 200 acres of land in connection with the hotel. Mr. Delano is manager of the extensive Oakland stables located west of the hotel. The hotel company have about ten cows, which supply the house with milk and butter. Every department of the hotel is supplied with the finest furniture, and each working department with the most approved machinery.

To the Hopkins family belongs the credit of erecting this immense hotel. In fact to them is due the revival of many if not all business interests of the city, the building of the Somerville School; even the two miles of cedar block pavement extending south from Somerville was proposed by them, and upward of half the cost paid by them in direct taxation. The entire sum expended on the property is not much under a quarter of a million. Improvements now being effected.

The accessibility is also a point strongly in its favor. It may be reached directly from Buffalo and the East via the Canada Southern R. R., the St. Clair branch of which terminates at Courtright on the opposite side of the river. Detroit is distant but forty-eight miles, and can be reached either by rail over the Michigan Midland and Grand Trunk Railroads - there being two trains each way daily - or by frequent steamers. Port Huron is distant twelve miles and is the center of an important railroad system. In addition to a number of daily boats to Port Huron and Detroit, there are [666] lines of steamers to all important points on the lakes by means of which and by the rail connections St. Clair is made very accessible from all parts of the country. For years it has been something of a pleasure resort, and those who have visited here during the summer have uniformly testified to the opportunities for enjoyment which it has afforded. With the additional advantages which a fine hotel and the society of a large number of health and pleasure seekers will furnish, it will readily be conceded that no place will possess greater attractions.

Who can grasp in a single thought the magnitude of this wondrous change? Gray hairs ought not now to appear on the heads of those who were born when the city was born; yet, in the few years which have sped rapidly since that time, there have been wrought great changes. Large saw-mills, with their noisy, insatiable machinery and hurrying attendants, and three lines of railroad have been erected on the homes of the beaver and muskrat. Paved streets, heavy blocks of stores and bursting warehouses have crushed out the myriads of wild flowers that made the river front a vast and variegated bouquet, and the black smoke from scores of chimneys has taken the place of their delicious fragrance; hedges and lawns, fountains and miniature lakes, arbors and conservatories, have supplanted the long marsh and sand grass, in which quail, grouse and wild birds nested and reared their young undisturbed; the river, whose clear waters flowed unruffled into the greater waters, is now turbid and crowded with rafts of logs and lumber; the solitude of the wilderness has been violated by the rush and scream of the locomotive; the delicious and soothing hum of birds and insects at eventide has been drowned by the tumultuous din of ringing bells, rattling mills, screeching whistles and the noisy tread of eager, hurrying people, who have never a thought of what incomparable changes have taken place under their feet, over their heads, and on every hand, or of the possible changes, no less complete and astonishing, in store for the future, in process of development through their every move and act. The panorama of history is an interesting one, but its pictures can be fully appreciated only by those who have seen them all. In fact, no one else can even comprehend them. No description of tongue or pen can fully impress upon the minds of the gay, richly-dressed throngs at a party to-day, that under the very floors where the figures of the "German" or the "Newport" are being followed, packs of hungry wolves fought with hideous snarl and howl over the carcass of one of their own number; or that it was the place where the scarred and stoical savages gathered around the embers of the camp fire, in solemn discussion of the fate of a captive, debating how many moons should elapse before the prisoner in their midst, from some hostile tribe, should be burned at the stake; or that it was the burial place for unnumbered generations of tribes now unnamed and extinct, or that, instead of the lively strains from a well-trained band, years before, the brave captives, with unruffled brow and steady, cheerful voice, stoically chanted a battle song amid the yell of the warriors and the hiss of the flames about him, appearing as though the boiling pitch poured upon his head, and the burning splinters thrust into his searing flesh gave him the utmost pleasure. Yet all this may be true, for up to within less than a century the spot on which the city now stands had been for many centuries, perhaps, the favorite meeting-place of both friendly and hostile tribes.

The editor of the St. Clair Republican in his congratulatory address, April 5, 1882, gave expression to thoughts which must be considered both history and prophecy combined. In speaking of the enlargement of his journal, he shows very clearly the advance or progress of the city: "This change has resulted from a conviction that a larger and better paper will be more in harmony with the improved condition and requirements of the place, and especially when this is taken in connection with the bright prospect which the future affords. There is probably nothing which more accurately indicates the condition of a place than the newspaper or newspapers which it supports. If a place is at a standstill, there is little chance for a newspaper to improve, while any material progress which takes place will either be reflected in the existing newspaper or it will have to give way to one of a more progressive character. The Republican, has, since it passed under its present management, been impressed with the belief that the long sleep in which St. Clair had been indulging for nearly a quarter of a century was about to be broken, and that it was to enter upon a career as bright as its previous career had been dull and uneventful. Acting upon this belief, the Republican office has been equipped with presses, type and other facilities such as would be demanded by a smart and thriving city rather than a country town.

"At times the prosperity which we have anticipated has seemed slow in coming, but on the whole, we have not faltered, and there now seems little doubt that our expectations are soon to be realized. We need give but a few of the more apparent reasons for this faith. To begin with, there [667] is the confidence of the proprietors of the Mineral Springs, which has led them to contract for doubling the capacity of the Oakland and for putting up a bath house, which will almost be without a rival. Then there is Somerville School, which is receiving ecomiums on all hands, and which is fast assuming, if it has not already attained, the leading place among the educational institutions of the West for the education and training of young women. Next consider the railroad prospects of the place. The extension of the Michigan Midland to Holly, we understand, has already been decided upon, and the delay is only to arrange certain preliminaries which, it is believed, will soon be arranged. There is also talk of a narrow gauge road from Detroit to Port Huron, and but recently a prominent railroad man visited this city to learn what encouragement could be given to a scheme which had already been organized. There is last of all the general awakening of the people here and a determination to so improve the city that it will be in a better condition to carry on the business that prosperity will bring. For these and other reasons, we have faith in St. Clair, and if such prosperity comes as we are looking for, of one thing we are certain, and that is that no place can be found with more varied attractions, and especially no place which can be made more beautiful when wealth supplements what nature has already done.

PERSONAL HISTORY.

The following biographical sketches contain much that is specially interesting. Each one of these sketches is a lesson in itself, pointing the way to progress.

John L. Agens

David Anderson

George H. Baird

William Baird

Col. William B. Barron

George A. Beach

Benjamin F. Beckwith

Charles T. Beckwith

Peter Bell

Peter Bell, Jr.

Julius Belnap

Dr. Asa L. Blanchard

Charles W. Blanchard

Fred H. Blood

Henry J. Bradbeer

Peter F. Brakeman

Oliver Brandt

John Briggeman

Capt. George Brown

Jerome T. Brown

Gen. Simeon Brown

Edward Canan

John Canan

Edmund E. Carleton

George A. Carleton

Palmer Carleton

George W. Carlton

Edward Chaffee

Capt. C. H. Chamberlain

John Clarke

John C. Clarke

Peter Cleppel

William Coleman

Dr. Edward H. Conway

Henry O. Cox

John Cox

Benjamin F. Crampton

Andrew J. Cummings

Andrew A. Currie

S. W. Delano

Rev. M. J. P. Dempsey

Joseph Doak

James C. Donnelly

Henry Drulard

Francis M. Dunton

Emanuel Elsworth

Capt. H. Fish

William S. Fleury

Isaac French

Adam Gaffield

Dr. Solomon Gilbert

James Graham

William Green

Emery W. Gurney

Henry Hammond

Rev. S. Hendrick

Orin K. Hopkins

Samuel F. Hopkins

Stephen Sibley Hopkins

John Horn

Hiriam Hubble

Edwin K. Hungerford

J. E. B. Hungerford

David P. Ingles

Hon. Bela W. Jenks

Robert H. Jenks

William Justin

Thomas L. Kemp

Alexander Kennedy

Jacob Kromenaker

George Kruger

Frederick Layle

Henry Luck

William A. Mallory

Henry C. Mansfield

Capt. A. E. Manuel

J. C. McCutcheon

Hon. Crocket McElroy

Charles McMillan

D. C. McNutt

George R. McPherson

Hon. Marcus H. Miles

Thomas J. Millikin

Stephen Mittig

Franklin Moore

William B. Morse

Merrill Norris

Andrew J. Palmer

Henry C. Peasley

Edward Phillips

Mandeville Poole

Edward C. Recor

Capt. H. W. Robertson

Robert Scott

Albert Shafer

D. Sheldon

Eugene Smith

Charles E. Solis

Charles H. Southwick

Gustavus Strauss

Alexander Thomson

B. V. Van Eps

Charles H. Waterloo

John Wells

Col. H. Whiting

Justin R. Whiting

E. C. Williams

Miron Williams

Henry Wolf

John F. Wolven

Peter Wolven

Samuel H. Woodruff

James P. Worden

James G. Wortz

Nicholas Wunderleich

Nicholas Zimmer

Henry Whiting

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