History of Lenawee County, Michigan - Chapter 2, Lenawee County Early Jurisdiction

CHAPTER II.

EARLY JURISDICTION

TITLE TO LANDS-TREATY OF 1783-VIRGINIA'S CLAIM OF SOVEREIGN­TY-THE GREENVILLE TREATY-THE COUNTY OF WAYNE-CLAIMS OF THE INDIANS-CESSIONS OF TERRITORY BY THE RED MEN-­FORMATION OF LENAWEE COUNTY.

It was not until^- many years after the close of the American Revolution that the Anglo-Saxon race undertook the project of colonization in the region now known as Southern Michigan, of which Lenawee County is a component, and as regards population and resources, a very important division. It should not be inferred, however, that the territory contained within the present limits of the County remained unvisited by white men and unknown to them until after the epoch mentioned above. While this portion of North America was under the dominion of the French government, an ex­tensive trade with the Indians was carried on, and in pursuit of the returns that came from the traffic with the red men the wiley and skillful French traders traveled extensively over this portion of their mother country's possessions. They continued their re­lations with the natives, notwithstanding that the result of the French and Indian war transferred the right of dominion to the English government, and even for years following the American Revolution they followed their vocation, undisturbed and without competition, save the rivalry existing among themselves. So it is fair to presume that during their many excursions, in quest of trade, the present limits of Lenawee County were frequently invaded, and as their much traveled route, connecting Detroit with the Wabash River, was through this region, it can easily be inferred that the natives who then inhabited this section were the beneficiaries, or victims, as the case might be, of commercial intercourse with the early French traders.

Good traditional authority exists for the belief that at least one Indian and French trail passed through the southern part of Lena­wee County. Major Suttenfield and wife passed over it on horse­back, after Hull's surrender of the Northwestern army in the latter part of the summer of r8zz, on their journey from Detroit to Fort Wayne. And from the present site of the village of Tecumseh, where one of the great camping grounds of the Indians was lo­cated, there diverged four trails, one for Detroit, one for Monroe, one south, and one for Chicago. But railroad tracks and plow­shares have long since destroyed all vestige 'of these highways, so often trodden by the once powerful - tribes and their eager cus­tomers. These commercial adventurers were not pioneers in the true sense of that word, and it is doubtful if they could properly be called advance agents of civilization. Their mission in these parts was neither to civilize the denizens of the forest nor to carve out homes in the western wilderness, "The white man's burden" rested not heavily upon their shoulders and gave them little or no concern, the only motive that fetched them hither being a desire to possess, at as little cost as possible, the wares which the Indians had for sale. This object being attained, they wended their way homeward and the localities which had known them knew them no more. So it remained for the fore-runners of Anglo-Saxon civiliza­tion, as they led the "march of empire" in a westerly direction, to open this section of country for actual settlement and win from hostile nature-and at times a more hostile foe in human form­homes for themselves and posterity.

The Indians who inhabited the northern region east of the Mississippi at the beginning of historic times were, in language, of two great families, which are given the French names--Algonquin and Iroquois. These are not the Indian names. In fact, from the word Indian itself which is a misnomer-arising-from the slowness of the early voyagers to admit that they had found unknown con­tinents-down to the names of the tribes, there is a confusion of nomenclature and often a deplorable misfit in the titles now fixed in history by long usage. The Algonquin family may more prop­erly be termed the Lenape, and the Iroquois the Men-we, which the English frontiersmen closely approached in the word Mingo. The Lenape themselves, while using that name, also employed the more generic title of Wapanackki. The Iroquois, on their part, had the ancient name of Onque Honwe, and this is their tongue, as Lenape in that of the other family, signified men with a sense of importance-"The People," to use a convenient English expres­sion. The Lenape became a very widespread people, and different divisions of them were known in later years by various names, among which was Pottawattamie, the name of the division of the tribe that inhabited the present limits of Lenawee County. It is from the word Lenape that the name of Lenawee County is sup­posed by some to have been derived, and if so the red man may be said to be held in remembrance, although he has long since left the County, and. but few traces of his occupancy yet remain.

Before proceeding with an account of the organization and settlement of Lenawee County a brief review of the question of title to lands will be necessary, the word title as here used having special reference to racial dominion or civil jurisdiction. As is well known, the French were the first civilized people who laid claim to the territory now embraced within the state of Michigan and France exercised nominal lordship over the region until the treaty of Paris, in 1763, which treaty ended the French and Indian war. Prior to this date the French actually occupied isolated places in the vast extent of territory claimed by them (the south shore of Lake Erie, for instance), but it is an open historical question when such occupancy began. It is certain, however, that there was not the semblance of courts or magistrates for the trial of civil or crim­inal issues, and hence the chief function of civil government was lacking. And even for some years after the Michigan country passed under the control of the officials of the British govern­ment, affairs there were managed by army officers, commandants of posts on the frontier.

Immediately after the peace of 1763 with the French, the Province of Canada was extended by act of Parliament, southerly to the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers, and westward from the Detroit River. This, of course,' included all of the present state of Michigan, notwithstanding the claims of the colony of Virginia that she had the title to all land northwest of the Ohio River. This conflict of authority was at its height during the Revolutionary war, and in 1778, soon after the conquest of the British forts on the Mississippi and the Wabash, by Gen. George Rogers Clark, Virginia erected the County of Illinois, with the County seat at Kaskaskia. It prac­tically embraced all the territory in the present states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. But the British held possession of the Michigan country and all the lake region, and in the same year. (1778), Lord Dorchester, Governor General of Can­ada, divided Upper Canada into four districts for civil purposes, one of which included Detroit and the lake territory.

Great Britain had promised the Indian tribes that the whites should not settle north of the Ohio River, and the government of this almost unlimited region was, during English control, exclusive­ly military, with Detroit as the central post. This was the condi­tion during the Revolutionary war, and even after the treaty of peace, in 1783, the same state of affairs continued until after the second, or Jay treaty, in 1794. Early in 1792 the Upper Canadian parliament authorized Governor Simcoe to lay off nineteen counties to embrace that province, and it is presumed that the County of Essex, on the east bank of Detroit River, included Michigan and northern Ohio. While this supposition is not conclusive, certain it is that some form of British civil authority existed at their forts and settlements until Detroit was given up and all its dependencies in August, 1796.

The treaty of 1783, which terminated the War of the Revolu­tion, included Michigan within the boundaries of the United States, and, the Seventh article of that treaty stated that the King of Great Britain would, "with all convenient speed, and without causing any destruction or carrying away any - negroes or other property of the American inhabitants, withdraw all his-armies, gar­risons and fleets from the United States, and from every part, place and harbor within the same, leaving in all fortifications the Ameri­can artillery that may be therein, and shall order and cause all archives, records, deeds and papers belonging to any of the said states or their citizens, which in the course of the war may have fallen into the hands of his officers, to be_. forthwith restored and delivered to the proper states and persons to whom they belong." By a subsequent article it was stipulated that five months should be the utmost term for the validity of hostile acts. The final treaty of September, 1783, reaffirmed all these articles as of the preceding date. By the terms of this treaty the international boundary line between the possessions of Great Britain and those of the United States ran through the middle of Lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron, and their connecting water-ways, and through Lake Superior to the northward of Isle Royale and thence by the grand portage to the Lake of the Woods, embracing so far as the Northwest is con­cerned, the entire region the eastward of the Mississippi River. The maps which accompanied this treaty left no doubt that the whole of Michigan, as at present constituted, was within the United States. Military posts were garrisoned, however, by British troops, and continued under the dominion of Great Britain for many years after that date. The British forces showed no inclination to vacate the fort at Detroit, and General Washington sent a messenger to Governor Haldimand to establish a date for the actual surrender of the western posts. Haldimand wrote in a respectful tone to the effect that he could not consider the matter of vacating these posts in the absence of positive orders from his majesty. Preparatory to taking possession of the country, and in order to avoid collision with the Indian tribes, who owned the soil, treaties were made -with them from time to time (of which more is said on a subsequent page), in which they ceded to the United States their title to their lands. But the territory thus secured by treaties with Great Brit­ain, and with the Indian tribes-and concerning which we had thus established an amicable understanding-was many years seques­tered from our possession. In spite of the claim by Congress for the actual possession of the western country, in spite of the agita­tion on the part of officials of our government for the carrying out of the treaties' in good faith, the. British government took no action whatever. Governor Haldimand shielded himself behind his lack of instructions, and so matters remained for a long time in this unsatisfactory condition.

There is some ground for belief that this was a deliberate policy, founded upon the expectation or hope that something might turn up in the interests of Great Britain through which that gov­ernment could continue its occupancy indefinitely. It is known that Washington harbored some such idea. There were still op­portunities for complications in the new state of affairs between the two countries. No' one could foresee what questions might arise or whither the course of events might lead. There were plenty of emissaries of Great Britain working among the Indian tribes, seeking to bind them to British interests and to solidify a naturally unfriendly feeling against Americans. This very feeling of the Indians was offered as a pretext for maintaining an armed force in the country. It was argued that the safety of the whites could only be assured by the presence of a strong military guard. This the United States had not undertaken to supply. Hence, it devolved upon Great Britain to preserve the peace. In view of the known efforts to foment Indian hostility this argument was transparently deceptive. There were -evidences of intrigues 'on the part of Great Britain in dealing with her former Indian allies, who had suffered severe losses and who felt that they had not been adequately rewarded for all their sacrifices. So the Indian ques­tion cut a considerable figure in the determination of Governor Haldimand to hang on to the western posts as long as possible.

The British government urged as a further excuse the failure of Americans to fulfill that part of the treaty protecting the claims of British subjects against citizens of the United States, but, from the "aid and comfort" rendered the Indians in the campaigns of Harmar, St. Clair, and Wayne, the apparent prime cause was to defeat the efforts of the United States to extend their power over the country and tribes north of the Ohio, and continue to give the British the advantage of the fur trade, which, from their relations with these tribes, they possessed. This trade had been of immense value to England. She could not see these profits slip from her grasp without a struggle to save them. The region included within the new boundaries of the United States had been the most profitable source of supply. In 1786 a council of Indian nations northwest of the Ohio River was held at the Huron village near the mouth of the Detroit River. This was attended by representatives of all the leading tribes. They were troubled about the boundary between their possessions and those of the United States. They maintained that the Ohio was not to be crossed by the Americans. They also insisted that their rights had not been properly considered in 'the treaty between the United States and Great Britain. It seemed to be the feeling of the savages that the United States had neglected to show the attention to their wishes which the same demanded. A grand council was held at Fort Harmer, Marietta, in 1787, which formulated a treaty tending to settle in a satisfactory manner the points in controversy. The ultimate result of the complaints of the Indians and the international difficulty with England was the campaigns of 1790-91-94, ostensibly against the Indians, but sub­stantially against them and their British allies. Matters in contro­versy with the Indians were finally and definitely disposed of at Greenville in 1795, when by treaty the title to large tracts of lands included in Michigan was confirmed to the United States.

Virginia, however, still adhering to her claim of sovereignty over the northwestern country, on March 1, 1784, ceded the terri­tory to the United States, and immediately Congress entered seri­ously upon the consideration of the problem of providing a govern­ment for the vast domain. Its deliberations resulted in the famous "Compact of 1787" and under this organization Gen. Arthur St. Clair was appointed governor. It might not be out of place here to call attention to the fact that this compact, in two provisions, which were inspired by Thomas Jefferson, guaranteed to all the right of religious freedom and prohibited slavery in the territory. Hence the citizens of Lenawee County, in common with the citizens of Michigan, and those of the sister states that were carved from Virginia's grant, can feel a pardonable pride that never, tinder any American jurisdiction of this domain, has a witch been burned at the stake, or a slave been sold on the auction block. It should be understood, however, that slavery had always existed under the French regime in Canada or New France, to which Michigan also belonged. Nor did it cease under British rule, for as late as 1782 the commandant at Detroit, Maj. Arent Schuyler De Peyster, caused an enumeration to be made of the people and property of Detroit and in the "survey" are found these two items: "Male slaves, 78; female slaves, lot." It appears that Indians as well as Negroes were held in slavery in spite of the Ordinance of 1787, which totally prohibited it. There is a tradition that even as late as the coming of John T. Mason, as secretary of the territory in 1831, he brought some domestic slaves with him from Virginia, and it is not improbable that a few domestic servants continued with the old masters down to the time of the adoption of the state con­stitution. As late as 1807 Judge Woodward refused to free a Negro man and woman on writ of habeas corpus, holding in effect that as they had been slaves at the time of the surrender in 1796, there was something in Jay's treaty that forbade their release. But it is proper to say that after the Ordinance of 1787 took effect there was no legal slavery in Michigan.

Though Michigan was included within the provisions of the Ordinance of 1787, they could not at once be practically applied, owing to the fact that the country was still under British control. In 1792 Quebec was divided into Upper and Lower Canada, with the seat of government of the latter at Toronto, then known as York. Sir Guy Carleton, as Lord Dorchester, had again become Governor-General of the whole province, with John Graves Simcoe Lieutenant-Governor, of Upper Canada. The Quebec act, so far as related to this region, was repealed and all legislation under it was abrogated. Permanent courts were established in the regular way and a form of civil government was set up for the first time at Detroit and Michilimackinac. The legislature also made pro­vision for granting lands in the province and grants or pretended grants by Indian tribes were made to Jonathan Schiefflin, Robert Innis, Alexander Henry, John Askin, Robert McNiff, John Dode­mead and others of parcels of land covering pretty nearly the whole southeastern portion of Michigan westward as far as the center line and as far north as Saginaw. This was supposed at the time to cover all of the region likely to be considered worth anything for the next hundred years.

To encourage the Indians in self-defense and incidentally as a protection to Detroit, Simcoe built a fort at the rapids of the Mau­mee- and garrisoned it with British soldiers. He was evidently per­suaded, even so late as 1794, as was apparently Governor Carleton also, that the prospects were favorable for Great Britain to con­tinue holding the country. But in that very year their hopes must have been blasted, for Jay's treaty, made in September, 1794, stipu­lated that all the western posts within the territory belonging to the United States should be surrendered by June 1, 1796, In spite of this, however, they still sought to postpone the inevitable through Indian hostility which they lent their efforts to promote. While there were some disaffected savages ready to take up arms in behalf of British interests, the councils were divided. Neverthe­less there were troubles of a sufficiently serious character to call for the energetic efforts of Gen. Anthony Wayne, and a considerable army. Several bloody engagements took place, in which militia and volunteers from Detroit participated, one of them almost under the gates of the British fort on the Maumee. When the news of Jay's treaty came some of the natives were shrewd enough to see that with a definite date set for the surrender of the country there was small prospect of annulling a solemn treaty made and con­firmed by the governments of the United States and Great Britain, and they were ready to agree to a permanent peace then followed the treaty of Greenville and the end of hostilities.

The ratification of Jay's treaty having been exchanged, a mes­senger was at once dispatched to Lord Dorchester at Quebec, with a demand that its provisions be carried into effect. This time there was no hesitancy in acceding to the demand. The necessary orders for the evacuation of the western posts were issued, and upon the return to Philadelphia of the messenger they were at once put into the hands of General Wayne. They were duly forwarded by him to Lieut.-Col. John Francis Hamtramck, at Fort Miami, to be car­ried into effect. He dispatched Capt. Moses Porter with sixty-five men fully armed and equipped to take possession of Detroit. The detachment arrived on July 11, 1796, and on that day Col. Richard England, then in command of the garrison, lowered the British colors from the flag-staff at Fort Lernoult and Captain Porter ran up the stars and stripes. Thus, after long and vexatious delays, the sovereignty of the United States was established over Michi­gan. Colonel Hamtramck, with his entire command, arrived at Detroit two days later and assumed military authority over the post and the town. General Wayne himself came in a few weeks with the powers of a civil commissioner as well as those of a mili­tary commander, and remained throughout the summer, busied into setting into operation the governmental machinery. So, for the first time it can be said that Michigan had ceased to be a British province and had attained the dignity of allegiance to the United States.

As has been previously stated, Virginia claimed the whole northwest to the Mississippi tinder her colonial charter of 1608 which gave her a front on the Atlantic 200 miles north and 200 miles south from Point Comfort, "and all that space and circuit of land lying from 'the sea-coast of the precinct aforesaid up into the land, throughout from sea to sea, west and northwest." It will be readily seen that under this charter she could claim almost any­thing between the two oceans, north of Cape Fear Liver. New York, by virtue of a treaty with the six nations of New York, laid claim to all the country the said Indians had overrun, south to the Cumberland mountains, and west to the Mississippi, but it is very questionable whether Michigan could be brought within her claim, and it never became a practical question. Connecticut claimed by virtue of her colonial charter, which extended her western limit "to the South sea." Under this old charter Connecticut claimed a belt of territory extending west from the west line of Pennsylvania to the Mississippi and north and south from parallel 41 to 42 de­grees 2  minutes north latitude. This included nearly all that part of Michigan south of the second tier of counties as now organized. And finally, Massachusetts had a colonial charter extending on the Atlantic border from the Connecticut limit of 42 degrees 2  min­utes to a point "three English myles to the northward of said River called Monomack alias Merrymack" and "throughout the mayne landes there from the Atlantic and Western sea and ocean on the east parte to the South Sea on the west parte." This would have carried the projected north line of the Massachusetts claim, if ex­tended due west, to about the north line of Oakland County or near the latitude of Port Huron and Grand Rapids. The task of the Congress of the Confederation was to unite as many of these claims as possible in the hands of the United States. The first and most important thing to be done was to secure cessions from each of the individual states having claims on the western lands. In doing this aid came in a most unexpected way. It is necessary to premise that by the "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union," it was provided that the said Articles should not become operative and binding until ratified by each of the thirteen states. On Feb­ruary 22, 1779, Delaware, the twelfth state, ratified, leaving Mary­land only yet to ratify in order to complete the Confederation.

Maryland demanded, as the condition of her ratification of the Articles, an amendment giving Congress power to fix the western limits of those states claiming to the Mississippi, and as early as December, 1778, the legislature of Maryland adopted a "Declara­tion" to the effect that "Maryland will ratify the Confederation when it is so amended as to give full power to Congress to ascertain and fix the western limits of these states claiming to extend to the Mississippi." This document was presented to Congress January 6, 1779. This was followed by "Instructions to Maryland Delegates," presented May 21st, of the same year. The completion of the Con­federation hung on the action of Maryland, and she stood fast and refused to ratify unless the desired amendment was made. Vir­ginia adopted a counter declaration, in which she laid down the proposition that "the United States hold no territory but in right of some one individual state of the Union," and further declared that the setting aside of this principle "would end in bloodshed among the states." It would require a very long chapter to give anything like a full history of the long struggle by which New York, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Connecticut were finally led to cede to the United States, as trustees for all the states, the lands which they severally claimed west of the mountains. But it may be summarized briefly as follows

New York led the way, by the passage of an Act January 17, 1780, "For facilitating the completion of the Articles of Confed­eration and Perpetual Union among the United States of America," by which her delegates were authorized to limit her western bound­aries, and to cede the surplus of her claim to the United States, for the use and benefit of all such states as should become members of the Federal Alliance. On March 1, 1781, the New York dele­gates executed a deed of cession, of all her territory west of her present west line, on the meridian of the most westerly bend of Lake Ontario. On the same day the delegates of the state of Mary­land ratified and signed the Articles of Confederation, thus com­pleting the Confederation. But already, on January 2, 1781, Vir­ginia had yielded to the pressure of Congress and the non-claimant states and had by act of her legislature resolved to cede the terri­tory northwest of the Ohio River for the common benefit, but she placed this cession on such conditions of acknowledgment of her title to the transmontane lands and of guarantee of her remaining territory, as rendered it impossible for Congress, representing all the states, to accept. But on October 20, 1783 Virginia made a new or amended cession, obviating the most important objections, and on March 1, 1784, her cession was accepted by Congress. On November 13, 1784, the General Court of Massachusetts authorized her delegates to execute cessions of her lands west of the Hudson River. And on April 19, 1785, just ten years after the day when the "embattled farmers" stood on the green in front of the Lexing­ton meeting-house and at Concord bridge, where they "fired the shot heard round the world," Samuel Holton and Rufus King, her- dele­gates in Congress, executed, and on the same day Congress accepted the cession of all her right, title and claim to lands west of the merid­ian of the westerly bend of Lake Ontario, the same being the west line of New York state. This now left only Connecticut of the claim­ant states. She did not long stand out. On May 11, 1786, her legisla­ture authorized the cession of all her western land, reserving, how­ever, a tract extending 12o miles west of the western boundary of Pennsylvania, "as now claimed' by said Commonwealth," and from the 41st degree north latitude to Lake Erie. This became the fa­mous “Western Reserve." There was much opposition to the ac­ceptance of this cession, on account of the reservation. But on May 26, 1786, it was finally accepted, thus completing the title of the United States to all that vast domain bounded by Pennsylvania on the east, the Ohio River on the south, the Mississippi on the west, and the chain of lakes and their connecting waters on the north and northeast.

All these pretensions of sovereignty and conflictions of author­ity were aside from the claims of the real inhabitants of the country: The Iroquois Indians, or Six Nations, laid claim to the entire extent of territory bordering on the Ohio River and northward, basing their contention upon the assumption that they had conquered it and held it by right of conquest. In 1722 a treaty had been made at Albany, N. Y., between the Iroquois and English, by which the lands west of the Allegheny mountains were acknowledged to be­long to the Iroquois by reason of their conquests from the Eries, Conoys, Tongarias, etc., but this claim was extinguished by the terms of the treaty of Fort Stanwix, concluded October 22, 1784. Article III, of this treaty provided for a line to be drawn four miles east from the carrying path on Lake Ontario, parallel with the Ni­agara River to Lake Erie and along the north boundary of Penn­sylvania, to the west boundary, thence south to the Ohio River. The six nations were to hold to that line, and all west of that line they yielded to the United States. But there were tribes and nations settled on these western lands, who did not admit the right or power of the Six Nations to dispose of the title to their lands. So a separate treaty must be made with them, or the settlers in the Ohio country would experience the horrors of savage warfare on their settlements. The treaty of Fort McIntosh, in 1785, was intended to quiet the claims of the Delawares, Wyandotte’s, Ottawa’s, and Chippewa’s, in the Ohio valley. The Shawnees relinquished their claims under the provisions of the treaties of Fort Finney, January 31, 1786, treaty of Fort IIarmar (held by General St. Clair), January 9, 1789 the treaty of Greenville, and various other treaties from that date until 1818. It is a notable fact that every foot of Michigan soil was acquired from the Indians through treaty or purchase, and, when compared with methods followed in other sections of America, the means employed were decidedly honor­able. True, some of these treaties, as for instance, the one con­cluded at Greenville, were entered into at the close of long and bloody conflicts, when the Indians had been conquered and reduced to a condition of helplessness, thus making them obliged to sub­mit to any terms offered by the victors. But when we consider the fact, demonstrated on every page of the world's history, that the tree of civilization does not grow until the soil has been fer­tilized by human blood, we can excuse the warfare waged against the Indians, and by comparison at least point to those treaties as just and merciful ones. Concerning the earlier Indian treaties, Rufus King, in his history of Ohio, says

"To open the way for surveys and sales of the western lands and to induce immigration, it was essential to obtain the Indian title. A board of commissioners had been established for this purpose in 1784. Instead of seeking peace and friendship through the great council of the northwestern confederacy, which had now transferred its annual meetings from the Scioto to the Rapids of the Maumee (near Toledo) these officials adopted the policy of dealing with the tribes separately. Year after year they treated with sundry gatherings of unauthorized and irresponsible savages, at what are known as the treaties of Fort Stanwix in October, 1784; Fort McIntosh (mouth of Big Beaver), in January, 1785; Fort Finney (near the mouth of the Big Miami), in January, 1786, and Fort Harmar (mouth of Muskingum), in January, 1789. By these proceedings it was given out and popularly supposed that the Indian tribes on the Ohio had acknowledged the sovereignty of the United States and surrendered all the territory south and east of a line which passed up the Cuyahoga River, and across the portage to the Tuscarawas, then descending this stream to Fort Laurens, thence running west to' the portage between the heads of the Big Miami and the Auglaize Rivers to Lake Erie. Congress was under the delusion that it had acquired the Indian title and full dominion of all the lands between this line and the Ohio River. The mischief of these travesties was soon discovered in new raids and murders perpetrated upon the settlers of the government lands by the very tribes ignorantly reported and supposed to have ceded the territory."

The Greenville treaty was made by Gen. "-lad Anthony" Wayne, on August 3, ¹795, at the close of the Indian war that waged in the Maumee valley and throughout Ohio and southern Michigan during the years 1790-95. Full particulars of these hos­tilities are not germane in this connection, but the provision of the treaty comes properly within the scope of the history of Le­nawee County. Between the Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas and the Maumee and Miami, south to the line from Fort Laurens to Lara­mie's store, the Indians were to retain possession, and besides that were to hold the title to all the rest of the country, west of a line from Fort Recovery to the mouth of the Kentucky River, and west and northwest of the Maumee, except Clark's grant on the Ohio River and certain reservations about Detroit and the forts in Ohio and other parts of the Northwest, with the understanding that when they should sell lands it should be to the United States alone, whose protection the Indians acknowledged, and that of no other power whatever. There was to be free passage along the Maumee, Aug­laize, Sandusky, and Wabash Rivers, and the lake. Twenty thou­sand dollars worth of goods were at once delivered to the Indians, and a promise was made of $9,500 worth every year forever.

The United States Senate ratified the Wayne and Greenville treaty in due time, and southern Michigan and northwestern Ohio, north of the treaty line and west of the Connecticut Reserve line, remained unorganized for a number of years thereafter. About the same time (1794) John Jay, as minister to England, concluded his treaty with that country, by the terms of which the British posts were to be abandoned in the neighborhood of the Great Lakes on or before June I, 1796. The terms not being strictly complied with, in July, 1796, the United States demanded a fulfillment of the treaty and the transfer of authority was accordingly made, Gen­eral Wayne moving his headquarters thither and displacing the English commander. In the absence of Gen. Arthur St. Clair, who was the governor 'of the Northwest Territory, Secretary Winthrop Sargent went to Detroit and proclaimed the County of Wayne, which included what is now the lower peninsula of Michigan, a large part of Indiana, and the Indian country in Ohio, the boundary of which on the south was the Greenville treaty line.

It will be well to digress here a moment and turn our attention to some events, which, though they left no permanent results, but for a miscarriage might have very deeply affected the subsequent history of what is now Lenawee County and the state of Michigan in general. There is an impression that there has been some "land­grabbing" in recent years, participated in by men in high official positions, including several members of Congress, but compared with some of the great land "deals" in the first two decades after the treaty of peace with Great Britain, they have been very tame af­fairs. The legislature of Georgia during ₁₇₉₄ had sold to four companies, including some of the most eminent citizens of the country, a vast tract of land lying between the Chattahoochie and the, Mississippi Rivers, and these speculators had - succeeded in selling out at a great advance to other speculators in the middle and northern states. It was believed that this action by the legis­lature of Georgia had been procured by corrupt means, and, stim­ulated by their success, a scheme was concocted to "gobble up" nearly the entire lower peninsula of Michigan. In was in ¹795, while the treaty of Greenville was still pending, that one Dr. Robert Randall, of Maryland, visited Detroit for the purpose of interesting certain Detroit merchants and capitalists in no less a scheme than the purchase of all the rights of the United States in 20,000,000, acres of land in the peninsula for the sum of $500,000. He had asso­ciated with him one Whitney, of Vermont, who was looking after New England, while other confederates were "interesting" members of Congress, as members of the Georgia legislature had been "inter­ested" the year before. Among the local people at Detroit who had entered the "combine" were said to be John Askin (merchant and In­dian trader-' Robert Innis, William Robertson, David Robertson, and Jonathan Shiffelin. The entire capital stock was divided into forty-one shares, of which five were apportioned to the Detroit parties, six to Randall and Whitney and their associates, and thirty were alloted to members of Congress to "influence" them. Over­tures had been made to a number of members of Congress-just how many is not known-among them Giles, of Virginia; Smith, of South Carolina; Murray, of Maryland, and others. Randall boasted that he had already "secured" thirty members. But Mur­ray exposed the whole scheme on the floor of the house. Randall was arrested, brought to the bar of the house, tried for attempted bribery, convicted of high contempt, and sentenced to be repri­manded and held in custody to the end of the session. The expo­sure was fatal to the whole scheme and this attempted "land-grab" -not the last be it said-fell flat and came to naught. It might be interesting, but not profitable to speculate what the effect would have been upon the future of Michigan and Lenawee County had this gigantic scheme succeeded. Among other things the pro­moters promised that through the influence of their Detroit repre­sentatives they would maintain peace and amicable relations with the Indians of the peninsula. For many years the Randall-Whitney attempted bribery and purchase has been a forgotten episode in the region which their ambition and greed would have made a proprie­tary estate. Most of the resident promoters were British adherents, and it is probable the whole intrigue would have come to naught after American occupation.

But meanwhile Michigan remained a part of the as yet undivid­ed Northwest Territory.' The proclamation creating the County of Wayne was issued August 15, 1796, and the boundaries named therein were as follows : "Beginning at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, upon Lake Erie, and with the said River to the portage, be­tween it and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum, thence down the said branch to the forks, at the carrying place above Fort Lau­rens, thence by a west line to the western boundary of Hamilton County (which, is a due north line from the lower Shawanese town upon the Scioto River), thence by a line west-northerly to the south­ern part of the Portage, between the Miami’s of the Ohio and the St. Mary's River, thence by a line also west-northerly to the most southern part of Lake Michigan, thence along the western shores of the same to the northwest part thereof (including the lands upon the streams emptying into the said lake), thence by a due north line to the territorial boundary in Lake Superior, and with the said boundary through Lakes Huron, Sinclair, and Erie, to the mouth of Cuyahoga River, the place of beginning."

From the organization of the territory, in 1788, it had had no representative government, owing to the restrictions of the "Ordinance of 1787." A reference to this "Compact" will discover to the reader that the legislative function of the territorial govern­ment in its first stage of development, and until there should be 5,000 free male inhabitants of full age in the district, was lodged in the governor of the territory, and the judges of the general (or Territorial) court, or any two of the judges and the governor. But in 1798, a census was taken, which disclosed more than the neces­sary "5,000 free male inhabitants" in the Territory, and it thus having reached the second stage of territorial government, entitling it to an elective territorial council, on October 29, 1798, Governor St. Clair accordingly proclaimed an election, to be held on the third Monday of December, for the choice of a house of representatives in the general assembly, to which the territory was entitled at that stage of development. The election was by districts, and Wayne County was entitled to one representative. No election returns are known to be in existence from that part of Wayne County now included in Michigan, but it would seem certain that an election was held at Detroit in December, 1798; if so, it was the first time the elective franchise was ever exercised, under the laws of the United States, in what is now the Peninsula State. It would ap­pear that James May, of Detroit, was chosen representative. It would seem also that this election was set aside for some reason, a new proclamation of the governor having assigned three dele­gates to Wayne County. A new election was held at Detroit Jan­uary 14 and 15, _1799, at which four candidates were voted for, to­wit: Charles Chabert de Joncaire received:68 votes; Jacob Visger 63 votes, Oliver Wiswell 37 votes, and Louis Beaufait 3o votes. Joncaire, Wiswell, and Visger were declared elected. But there is some confusion and lack of record in regard to this first assembly. Wiswell, though declared elected, did not serve, and Solomon Sib­ley, though not voted for and not chosen at this election, appears to have served instead. It would seem probable that Wiswell re­signed and Solomon Sibley was appointed or elected at a special election in his place, for "on September 28th, Solomon Sibley ap­peared and took his seat." The gentlemen chosen at this election met at Cincinnati on January 22, 1799, and organized the first elec­tive legislative body that ever convened within the limits of the Northwest Territory.' Twenty-two representatives were chosen by the nine counties then organized, and they constituted the law­making power of the territory, when taken in conjunction with a legislative council of five members, who were appointed by the United States Congress. This was the first time Michigan was ever represented in any legislative body except an Indian council.

Wayne County (of which the territory now embraced in Lenawee was then a part) -as previously stated was represented in this assembly by Solomon Sibley, Charles Chabert de Joncaire, and Jacob Visger, all residents of Detroit. The first name•, Mr. Sib­ley, was an exceedingly active and influential member of this assembly and was appointed a committee of one to superintend the printing of the laws of the session. The book as printed is now in possession of the Supreme court library in Columbus, Ohio, and in it Mr. Sibley certifies that he has carefully compared the printed laws with the original enrolled bills, and finds them to agree. Dur­ing the interim between the adjournment of the first and the meet­ing of the second session of this legislature, Congress passed the act dividing, the Northwest Territory and creating the new terri­tory of Indiana. This act legislated Henry Vandenburgh, of Vin­cennes, out of the legislative council, and Mr. Sibley was later promoted to that position. At the election for members of the sec­ond legislative assembly, Wayne County chose as her representa­tives Charles Chabert de Joncaire, George McDougal, and Jonathan Shiffelin. The election of the last two named was contested, but they were declared to be entitled to their seats.

The first section of the Ordinance of 1787 provided "That the said territory, for the purpose of temporary government, be one district, subject, however, to be divided into two districts, as future circumstances may in the opinion of Congress make expedient.'"' In December, 1789, William Henry Harrison was elected delegate in Congress, and in the following March entered upon his duties, being made chairman of a committee on the division of the North­west Territory. Through Harrison's influence the committee re­ported favorably, and on May 7, i8oo, the act was approved, mak­ing the divison. The dividing line followed Wayne's treaty line from a point opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River to Fort Re­covery, and thence due north to the international boundary. The region east of this line remained under the title of "The Territory Northwest of the Ohio River," and while by the provisions of this act the old County of Wayne was considerably reduced in extent, yet. its numerical strength as regards population was probably les­sened very little. By the United States census of 1800, Wayne County-which it must be remembered included Detroit-contained a population of 3,206. The first, and what proved to be the last session of the second territorial legislature, convened at Chillicothe, Ohio, November 23, 18o1, and adjourned January 23, 1802, and this was the last time that Lenawee County or any part of Michigan was represented in an Ohio legislative assembly.

In the Congressional enactment providing for a convention to consider the question of statehood for Ohio, Wayne County was not permitted to elect delegates, owing to the fact that its popula­tion -vas confined chiefly to Detroit and vicinity, which region it was not intended to include in the proposed new state. On April 30, 1802, Congress passed the act to enable Ohio (that part of the Eastern District lying east of a north and south line passing through the mouth of the great Miami River, and south of a line projected due east from the most southerly bend of Lake Michi­gan), to form a state constitution, and to be admitted to the Union on an equal footing with the original states.  On the taking effect of this act, the whole of Michigan was attached to the Territory of Indiana, and so remained until June 30, 1805, when the act or­ganizing the Territory of Michigan took effect. This separation left the ^-region of which Lenawee County is now a part-though perhaps considered a part of Wayne-practically under no County jurisdiction, but as all the vast territory of Southern Michigan, ex­cepting Detroit and its environs, was as yet the hunting ground of the aborigines, such a condition of affairs entailed no hardship upon anyone. It' must be constantly borne in mind that the Indian title had not yet been extinguished in Michigan, except as to the six mile strip from the River Raisin to Lake St. Clair, and that even this strip had not been surveyed into lots and brought into market; therefore settlement was confined to the old French grants along the River front, and almost entirely within the six mile strip. Hildreth, writing of the year 1812, and speaking of Governor Hull's arrival at Detroit, says : "Hull's army reached Detroit, which con­tained at that time only some 8oo inhabitants. The neighboring villages on the strait had about twice as many, the whole Territory of Michigan not much above 5,000, most of them of French origin."

During all this time, following the Greenville treaty, the lands remained in the hands of the Indians with the exception of the small amount of territory heretofore mentioned, In the main, all of southern Michigan was barren of white inhabitants, and so far as the present site of Lenawee County is concerned, it was, in the language of the young Fourth of July orator, "a howling wilder­ness." The Indians and what few whites there were in the vicinity of the reservations had continued to live in comparative peace from and after the ending of hostilities by the Greenville treaty. Even during the troublous times, incident to the war of 1812, when Te­cumseh was marshalling the men of his race to assist the British forces, there was but little antagonism between the settlers and natives of the region known as southern Michigan. Feelings of security were necessarily absent, however, owing to the scenes of war being enacted at nearby points, and with the news of the great disaster on River Raisin-where an American force numbering 1,000 was almost annihilated-came a realization of the danger that menaced the settlers. Occasionally, of course, there were outrages that threatened serious trouble, due to lawless elements in both races and the race hatred entertained by many of the whites; yet as a rule the Red Men of the Forest pursued their wild and favorite vocations, undisturbed by naught save what must have been ap­parent to them-the irresistible and ceaseless march of Anglo-Sax­on civilization. The end of his dominion in southern Michigan was rapidly approaching, and in his thoughtful moments the In­dian must have heard, reverberating through the air, in tones that a modern policeman would envy, the laconic and authoritative command-"Move on !"

Governor Hull was-instructed and commissioned to negotiate a treaty with the peninsular and allied tribes, and a council was called to meet at Brownstown, on the River front below Detroit, where, on November 7, 1807, was signed the treaty commonly known as the treaty of Brownstown, or the treaty of Detroit. This treaty was concluded between the sachems, chiefs and warriors of the Ottawa, Chippewa, Wyandot, and Pottawattamie nations, on the one part, and William Hull, Governor of the Territory of Michi­gan, and commissioner on the part of the United States, on the other. The aforesaid sachems, chiefs and warriors "cede, relinguish and forever quitclaim unto the United States, etc., beginning at the mouth of the Miami River of the Lakes (Maumee), and running thence up the middle thereof to the mouth of the great Auglaize River, thence running due north until it intersects a parallel to lati­tude to be drawn from the outlet of Lake Huron which forms the River Sinclair; thence running northeast, the course that may be found will lead in a direct line to White Rock, in Lake Huron, thence due east until it intersects the boundary line between the United States and Upper Canada, in said lake, thence southerly, following the said boundary line down said lake, through River Sinclair, Lake St. Clair, and the River Detroit into Lake Erie, to a point due east of the aforesaid Miami River, thence west to the place of beginning."

The western line of this vast extent of territory, which was by the above treaty granted to the United States,' almost exactly lo­cated the present boundary line between Lenawee and Hillsdale counties. Extended north from the Maumee, this cession of land comprised a considerable portion of northwestern Ohio in addition to the Michigan territory, included. The consideration for this cession was $n,ooo down in goods and money, and $2,400 annually to be divided among the tribes. The Indiana were to have the right to hunt and fish upon the lands, so long as they belonged to the United States, and the said tribes placed themselves under the pro­tection of the United States. This treaty extinguished the. Indian title to practically all that part of the territory east of the "principal meridian" of Michigan, and south of Saginaw (or Sagana)..bay, for the treaty was so interpreted as to include the sources of all the streams flowing eastward ' and southward, along the northeast line from the principal meridian, on the County line between Clinton and Shiawasse counties to White Rock in Huron County on Lake Huron. And all this vast domain for $ro,ooo and an annuity of $a,4oo. The reader, in contemplating this vast domain-covered then with valuable timber and a fertile soil as yet untouched-will doubtless come to the conclusion that Uncle Sam was a shrewd "bargain-dRiver," and that "Poor Lo" was correspondingly "easy." But when we recall that the Greenville treaty bound the Indians to sell the land to no one but the United States, thereby rendering any possible competitor ineligible, the moralist may consider the transaction not quite up to his ethical standard. This treaty marks an epoch in the history of Michigan, for it opened up to survey and settlement the whole territory as far west as the site of Jackson, and as far north as Saginaw River and bay.

From the year 1807 to 1812 there is not much to record in re­gard to the general growth or progress of the Territory of Michi­gan, and as far as the lands now contained within the limits of Le­nawee County are concerned it may be said that they remained in status quo. Two things especially were keeping back the settle­ment of the territory. First, Michigan was bordered along, its en­tire eastern boundary by Upper Canada, a British province, and liable at any moment to become hostile territory, exposing the whole frontier to invasion by the Indian allies of Great Britain, as well as by British troops, and the war-cloud had been gathering, more and more portentious. since the opening years of the century. The other cause was the constantly increasing prospect of a new attempt by a confederation of Indians drawn together and led by the Shawanese twins, Tecumseh and his Prophet-brother, Elsquat­awa. Tecumseh was an orator of great ability and eloquence, and as a warrior he was noted for his intrepid boldness, undoubted per­sonal courage, and his skill as a strategist. The village of Tecum­seh, in Lenawee County, is named in his honor, and to this fact .can doubtless be attributed the erroneous idea that Tecumseh, the war­rior, was born on Michigan soil. His birth-place was near the present site of the city of Springfield, Ohio. In writing of him the late Hon. Francis A. Dewey falls into the common error concern­ing his birth, but otherwise pays him a truthful and deserved trib­ute, as follows: "In my brief outline I do not wish to omit a few words as a passing notice of the renowned chief, Tecumseh. He was born, and over forty years of his life were spent, in the forests of Michigan. His wigwam was on the banks of the River Raisin. Historians say he possessed a noble figure, and his countenance was strikingly expressive of magnanimity, also was distinguished .for moral traits far above his race; a warrior in the broadest Indian sense of the word. He disdained the personal adornments of silver brooches, which the tribes so much delighted to wear. In the war of 1812 he joined in the British service, and had in his command over a thousand Indians belonging in Michigan. In General Proc­tor's division of the Canada soldiers, Tecumseh held the rank of brigadier-general in the British service. He still adhered to his Indian dress, a deerskin coat with leggings of the same material, being his constant garb.' In this he was found dead at the battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813.”

The battle of the Thames here referred to practically ended the second war with Great Britain so far as operations in the vicin­ity of southern Michigan were concerned, and it broke up, once for all, the northwestern Indian confederation, and gave peace to the region of which the future Lenawee County was a part. But another obstacle to immigration now arose, which for a number of years thereafter retarded the settlement of the territory. On May 6, 1812, there had been approved an Act of Congress "to pro­vide for designating, surveying, and granting military bounty lands," for the benefit of soldiers who should enlist in the war then about to cornmence..This act provided for the survey of 6,ooo,ooo acres of military bounty lands, of which 2,000,000 acres were to be located and surveyed in the Territory of Louisiana; 2,000,000 acres in the Territory of Illinois, and 2,000,000 acres in the Territory of Michigan. The act itself described the lands to be surveyed as "lands fit for cultivation." By a subsequent act of Congress, ap­proved April 29, 1816, entitled "An Act to authorize the survey of 2,000,000 of acres of public lands in lieu of that quantity heretofore authorized to be surveyed in the Territory of Michigan as Military Bounty Lands," that part of the act of May 6, I8I2, which pro­vided for the survey of 2,000,000 acres of said lands in the Territory of Michigan was repealed, and the survey of ¹,500,000 additional acres authorized in the Territory of Illinois, and 500,000 acres thereof in the Territory of Missouri. In this latter act, no reason is given for the change in location, but it was based upon an official report of the surveyor-general of the state of Ohio, Edward Tiffin, who had been entrusted by the commissioner of the general land office with the making of an examination of the military bounty lands in the Territory of Michigan. The report is dated at Chilli­cothe, Ohio, which was then the capital of the state, November 30, 1815, and begins thus

"Description of the military land in Michigan. The country on the Indian boundary from the mouth of the great Au Glaize River, and running thence for about fifty miles, is (with some few exceptions) low, wet land, with a very thick growth of underbrush, intermixed with very bad marshes, but generally heavily timbered with beech, cottonwood, oak, etc., thence continuing north and ex­tending from the Indian boundary eastward the number and extent of swamps increases, with the addition of numbers of lakes from twenty chains to two and three miles across." After much more labored and depressing description, he says : "It is with the ut­most difficulty that a place can be found over which horses can be conveyed." He concludes this remarkable report as follows: "Tak­ing the country altogether so far as it has been explored, and to all appearances, together with the information received in re­ward to the balance, it is so bad there would not be more than one acre out of one hundred, if there would be more than one out of one thousand, that would in any case admit of cultivation." As all the military lands were to be "fit for cultivation," of course there was nothing for Congress to do but to repeal the act authoriz­ing the location of a part of the lands in the Territory of Michigan, and to re-locate them in the high, dry, and salubrious regions of Missouri. This curious and long-forgotten incident will bring a smile, perhaps of incredulity, to the faces of thousands of people, should it ever meet their eyes, now dwelling on the magnificent farms in Lenawee County, and they will wonder whether the Ohio surveyor-general ever saw Michigan at all, and whether he did not get lost in the swamps of the great Auglaize or the Maumee. But the report of the surveyor-general had gone to the general land office, and thence it had gone to Congress, where it became official­ly known that "not one acre in one hundred, if there would be more then one out of one thousand" of the land in Michigan was fit for cultivation, insomuch that it was made the basis for the repeal of the act for the location of the bounty lands. The fame of the "great dismal swamp" of Michigan went abroad and it soon turned aside the tide of immigration; which passed by her doors to other less desirable localities.

In I8I8, the Indian title having been extinguished over a large part of the Peninsula, and there being some indications of a ten­dency of immigration thereto, the first land office in the territory was opened at Detroit. This was an epoch, for now, for the first time, settlers could acquire lands outside the old French and British grants along the Detroit River. Another advantageous fact was that many thousands of soldiers-regulars, volunteers, and militia -a great many from Ohio and Kentucky, and others from Penn­sylvania, and even from far-away Virginia, had come with Hull and with Harrison, had looked upon the majestic Detroit with its beau­tiful islands, had noted the farms stretched along the Michigan shore, with their fruitful orchards and white-paled gardens, and had seen the beautiful Raisin with its vine-clad banks, and other streams gliding down from the deep-wooded interior, hinting of possible water-falls and sites for flouring and saw-mills, and eligible loca­tions for villages and towns. They had gone back with the report that Michigan was not one boundless morass, across which it would be impossible to "convey" a horse, and of which not one acre in a hundred would be "fit for cultivation."

On the admission of Michigan to the federal union, the public domain was classified as Congress Lands, so called because they are sold to purchasers by the immediate officers of the general govern­ment, conformably to such laws as are or may be, from time to time, enacted by Congress. They are all regularly surveyed into townships of six miles square each, under authority and at the ex­pense of the national government. The townships are again sub­divided into sections of one mile square, each containing 646 acres, by lines running parallel with the township and range lines. In addition to these divisions, the sections are again subdivided into four equal parts, called the northeast quarter-section, southeast quarter-section, etc. And again, by a law of Congress which went into effect in July, I82o, these quarter-sections are also divided by a north and south line into two equal parts, called the east half quarter-section and west half quarter-section, containing eighty acres each. It was not until after the war of ISI2-15, and the con­quest of the Indian territory north of Wayne's treaty line, that sur­veys were ordered in the territory of southeastern Michigan. The township lines of Lenawee County were run by Benjamin Hough, Alexander Holmes, Joseph Fletcher, Joseph Wampler, and John Mullett, in the years 1815, 1816, 1819, I820, and 1824, principally in the years 1815, 1816, and 1818. The first surveying was done by Alexander Holmes, who ran the township lines of township five south, range five east (Macon), and township six south, range five east, which in the main is the present township of Ridgeway. At abo0t the same time Benjamin Hough surveyed. the township lines of Medina, Hudson, Rome, Rollin, Woodstock, and Cambridge. The last surveying was done by Andrew Porter in ¹⁸37, when he connected the original government survey with the state line at the time of the settlement of the "boundary dispute." For the purpose of surveying these and other lands in this vicinity of -Michigan a base line was run on or near the parallel of forty-two degrees and thirty minutes north latitude. A principal north-and-south line, known as the principal meridian, was run at right angles, of course, with the base line, and extending throughout the entire length of the lower peninsula. This meridian line is also the boundary be­tween Lenawee and Hillsdale counties. The ranges in Lenawee County were numbered east from the principal meridian, and the towns were numbered south from the base. Lenawee County, as has been stated, was included in the reservation known as "Con­gress lands," and it might be added that the land within its limits were sold by the Federal government at the statutory price of $1.25 per acre. Early provisions were made for the support of free schools, and Congress reserved one-thirty-sixth part of all lands lying northwest of the Ohio River for their maintenance, the lands in Michigan thus becoming the nucleus of the present magnificent school fund of the state.

We will not return and take up events incidental to the forma­tion, organization and development of Lenawee County. After the formation of the Ohio state government in 1803, Michigan remained without any semblance of County government or organizations until 1815. The first laying out and naming, and defining the boundaries of the County of Lenawee is to be found in a "Procla­mation" of Governor Cass, dated Sept. 1o, 1822, in which he altered defined and established the boundaries of certain counties pre­viously organized-that is to say, the County of Wayne, established by an executive act of Nov. 1, 1815; the County of Monroe, established by an executive act of July 14, 1817; the County of Macomb, established by an executive act of Jan. 15, 1818; the County of Oak­land, established by an executive act of Jan. 12, 1819; the County of St. Clair, established by an executive act of (larch 28, 1820; and by which "Proclamation" he also laid out and defined the bound­aries of the following named new counties: Lapeer, Sanilac, Sagi­naw, Shiawassee, Washtenaw, and Lenawee, and said six counties were to be organized whenever the competent authority for the time being should so determine; and Until so organized they were attached to counties then already organized, viz : the counties of Lapeer, Sanilac, Saginaw 'and Shiawassee to the County of Oak­land, the County of Washtenaw to the County of Wayne, and the County of 'Lenawee to the County of Monroe. The boundaries of Lenawee County were described therein as follows: "All the country included within the following boundaries: beginning on the principal meridian, where the line between the townships numbered four and five, south of the base line, intersects the same, thence south to the boundary line between the territory of Michigan and the state of Ohio; thence with the same east to the line between the fifth and sixth ranges east of the principal meridian, thence north to the line between the townships numbered four and five, south of the base line; thence west to the place of beginning, shall form a County to be called the County of Lenawee." Thus it will be seen that the County as then formed was-in extent and accord­ing to boundaries the same as it is to-day, although it was fully understood at that time that the southern boundary included the "disputed strip" that later was given to Ohio by a legislative com­promise in Congress. What is now Lenawee County was a part of Wayne County from the organization of the latter in 1815, until July ¹4, 18¹7, when it became a part of Monroe and so remained until erected as an independent division as above described.

Although Lenawee County was created by the above mentioned executive proclamation, it remained unorganized, so far as govern­mental functions were concerned, until Dec. 26, 1826, when its or­ganization was provided for by the provisions of "An Act to or­ganize the County of Lenawee," as follows

"Sec. I. Be it enacted by the Legislative Council of the Terri­tory of Michigan: That the County of Lenawee shall be organized from and after the taking effect of this act, and the inhabitants thereof entitled to all the rights and privileges to which by law the inhabitants of the other counties of the Territory are entitled.

"Sec. 2. That all the country within this Territory to which the Indian title was extinguished at the treaty of Chicago, shall be attached to and compose a part of the County of Lenawee."

The above second section became necessary in order to detach the country there spoken of from the County of Monroe, to which it had previously been attached, but from which it would now be separated by the County of Lenawee, and when Lenawee County proper should become organized and be itself detached from the County of Monroe, it was necessary that this Indian country also should be detached and become part of the new County of Lenawee. By the above legislative enactment Lenawee County was organized and took its place among the separate and distinct political divisions of the future state of Michigan.

Of the Indian tribes inhabiting the Raisin valley when the first definite knowledge of the country was acquired, the Pottawattamies were the most prominent, while other tribes were represented in fewer numbers. Later, still other tribes made their appearance, but it was chiefly with the Pottawattamies that the pioneers of this section had to deal. This tribe had possession at the time of the final treaty, and it was with it that negotiations were made provid­ing for the Indian exodus. The Indians were slow to join with the tide of western emigration, however, and for many years afterward, wandering bands would annually visit their old hunting grounds in Lenawee County, and their intercourse with the settlers came to be regarded more as an occasion of pleasant remembrances than of dread or danger. Some pleasant friendships were formed between the pioneer families and the former owners of the land which the pale-face was tilling.