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The Baptists of the village, who had zealously worshiped with some of the other denominations who preceded them in organization, took steps to form a religious body of themselves. They met at the house of Justice Nunn, and, in enumerating those professedly of their sect, they found about fifteen adults and a total number of about thirty-five, old and young. The Baptist society was then formed, Horace E. Burt, manager of the Martel Furnace, being elected President; Justice Nunn, Secretary, and Mrs. Dr. Conner, Treasurer. The meeting being for organization and consultation, no definite plans for the future were outlined or agreed upon. The sentiment was for a lay service at Justice Nunn's, where a room sufficiently spacious to serve for present meetings was placed at their service. There were present at the meeting Messrs. Burt, Nunn, Tetro, Patterson and several ladies, including Mrs. Nunn, Mrs. Conner and a Miss Ryerse.
The Congregational society was organized at St. Ignace a year ago. The pastor, Rev. A. Livermore, has left nothing undone in the interest of this organization. The lot which was purchased for a site for the new edifice of the Congregational society is on the Marley claim, on the corner of Trucker and Chambers streets, a short distance from the residences of the Marleys. The church fronts to the north, having a tower on one side presented to the lake. The building committee entered on duty in June, 1882, and the same year the First Congregational house of worship at St. Ignace was built.
In July, 1882, the Congregational Conference of Mackinac and Chippewa Counties is held on Sugar Island.
The Protestant Episcopal society of St. Ignace is in its infancy. Since the re-organization of the Island society, and the erection of a church building there, Rev. Mr. Stanley and the Episcopalians of this village have determined on the erection of a house of worship.
Rev. Mr. Schnitzel, a German Lutheran missionary, whose field embraces about seventy mission stations, extending into the Northwest as far as Bismarck, Dak., held the first German Lutheran service ever held in St. Ignace, Sunday, July 9, 1882, at the hall of the Martel Furnace. The service and sermon, followed by communion, were in the German language. There was a large attendance of German Lutherans, word having been sent out hurriedly that they might gather in worship after the manner and in the language of the Fatherland. There were many others present, however, whose interest was excited by the unusual occasion.
For many years, the people were satisfied with the old-time school system. In 1880-81, that spirit which marks the village of today began to manifest itself. In August, 1882, thirty-six votes were cast favoring the loan of $4,000, and six against, at the school meeting held in School District No. 1.
The Martel Furnace was blown in August 15, 1881, and, in 285 working days, made 11,283 tons of pig metal, with an average of 87 bushels of coal to the ton of iron made, commencing with 99 bushels at the start, and consuming only an average of 75 bushels. This furnace does not blow on Sunday, and her owners and managers are well satisfied with her conduct generally. The stack is the largest on the Upper Peninsula—ten and one-half feet diameter at boshes—and certainly one of the best equipped in the whole West. She is making a special quality of iron for car wheels, in the manufacture of which her owners, Davenport & Fairbairn, have large works at Erie, Penn. The management claims to have hit upon a mixture of Lake Superior ores, which make a quality of car-wheel iron that cannot be excelled anywhere.
Mathieu's patent retorts, which are now being put at the Martel and Vulcan furnaces, work a revolution in the manufacture of charcoal. By the old process of kiln coaling, forty bushels of charcoal from a cord of wood was considered a good yield. By the retort process, from sixty-six to seventy bushels of superior coal, every ounce of which is thoroughly burned and available, is produced from a cord of wood. But the utilization of the wood stops not here, for, in addition to the large yield of coal, 185 gallons of pyroligneous acid is obtained from each cord of wood carbonized. From the retort product and from the pyroligneous acid, the following commercial articles and acetates are obtained: Wood-tar, inodorous for pavements; a mixture of charcoal braize and wood-tar, for fuel; brown and white sugar of lead; acetate of copper, green and blue; Paris green; acetate of zinc; acetate of alumina; acetates of soda, magnesia and lime; acetate of iron; acetate of nickel, for plating; commercial and glacial acetic acid; methylic alcohol, acetic ether and acetone creosote. This list might be extended indefinitely, as pyroligneous acid enters into combination with many articles not here specified, but the above will be sufficient to indicate its commercial value.
At many of the blast furnaces which have been in operation many years, are heaps of charcoal dust sufficient, if manufactured into fuel, by combining wood, tar and sawdust, to supply the furnaces with fuel from two to four years, a specimen of which article, manufactured in retorts, was shown to us by the professor. But the most wonderful of all the productions of the magic retort is charcoal manufactured from peat, thousands of acres of which are found up the line of the D., M. & M. R. R. From one bushel of peat, thirty-five pounds of charcoal are obtained, equal, in smelting properties, to thirty-five pounds of the best charcoal. With peat abundant, a blast furnace located in a country destitute of wood could be successfully operated. In fact, the professor is to manufacture retorts for a furnace in Manitoba, in which peat coal will be used exclusively. It is a wonderful invention, which is constantly being improved and perfected, and we hope that financial success will abundantly crown the efforts of the worthy inventor.
The shipments of ore and quartz from St. Ignace for the season, up to and including August 2, 1882, are 16,131 tons, as follows: Ore, 15,622 tons; quartz, 509 tons.
The St. Ignace ore pier, recently completed, has one hundred pockets, fifty on each side, the track upon it being forty feet above the level of the water. The shore approach is 550 feet, and the pier itself 675 feet in length. The pockets have an aggregate holding capacity of 5,000 tons, and six vessels can be loaded at the same time.
The German Laud Company of Detroit, limited, which owns several thousand acres of farming land near St. Ignace, elected, at its office in Detroit, the following officers for the year 1882-83:
President, Conrad Orth; Vice President, John Stadler; Secretary, William Albricht; Financial Secretary, A. Klein; Treasurer, B. Michenfelder; Finance Committee, August C. Miller, William Kuhn and A. Bader; Board of Managers, Conrad Orth, B. Michenfelder, August C. Miller, William Kuhn and William Albricht.
The only officers of last year who received any votes were the Vice President and the Treasurer, who were reelected.
In April, 1880, seven young men of Mackinac County were drowned while en route from St. Ignace to the mouth of Black River. The names of the men were Garry Labute, La Barbe, John Bolan, Jr., Newton Township; William Charbonaux, Moses Paquin, Phobia Archambeau, Louis Martin, Jr., and Frank Martin, Jr. The party intended to participate in the wedding of a member on reaching Black River.
The cable from Mackinac City to St. Ignace was damaged in May, 1880: On the 9th of that month, an examination showed two miles of the wire missing.
A water-spout formed off the eastern end of Round Island July 17, 1880. A thin column of water about an inch in diameter rose gradually, then increased in volume to ten feet in diameter.
In May, 1882, a local writer reviewed the "immediate past" of St. Ignace village. As the letter deals with the progressive period, it is given in full. He states: It is somewhat encouraging for the future of this place to reflect that but six months ago there was but one school district in this township. Today we have three school districts in the southern portion of the township in the area principally occupied by the village of St. Ignace, and two school districts exist in the northern and less thickly settled portion of the township. District 1 owns the old school property, valued at between $3,000 and $4,000. This property is rapidly enhancing in value by reason of the improvements continually being made in its vicinity, and will ultimately prove of great value as a fund for the erection of a fine graded school building. District 1 remains indebted to Districts 2 and 3 for their share of the property. School District 2 has been offered a good lot gratis for a schoolhouse, and, when they get their money from District 1, will be able to erect a neat and comfortable building adequate for present wants. District No. 2 is about to vote upon the proposition to raise $1,500 for the purpose of erecting a commodious school building, intending next fall to make it a graded school, believing they are consulting the best interests of their present and future population in so doing.
One year ago, we had Justices of the Peace who served reluctantly, owing to their own business engagements. Today, we have two well-qualified officials, attentive to their duties and ambitious of discharging them to the credit of themselves and a rapidly growing community.
But little over six months ago, we had no railroad connections. Now we are but fourteen hours from Detroit and seven hours from Marquette. Soon we shall have another railroad at Old Mackinac, giving us another outlet south.
But little over two months ago there was no village organization here. There was such a sluggishness and opposition existing that there was no prospect. Now we have a village organization that gives so little satisfaction that it may be taken as an assured fact that at the session of the Legislature next winter somebody will be at Lansing asking for a city charter for us, and no one opposing it.
The county seat, which has been Mackinac Island since the organization of the county, is to be removed to this place, and a vote is soon to be recorded as to whether $17,000 shall or shall not be expended in the erection of the buildings here for court house and jail.
The township, now that a village has been set up within its boundaries, seems small and unimportant. If Moran was absorbed by St. Ignace, the consolidated township would then be of fair size. As it is, neither of the townships are respectable as to size.
About one year ago, there was only one minister of the Gospel here, Mr. Livermore. The old Catholic Church was without a priest, and was dilapidated and fast going to ruin. Now the good Father Kilian has had the edifice renewed and almost new buildings erected, and he is energetically pushing his church interests as becomes a zealous priest.
The Methodists have a church built and an acceptable pastor in Mr. Russell.
The Congregationalists have secured a lot and are moving to erect a permanent structure. Their temporary building has done good service. Their pastor, Mr. Livermore, has been laying the foundation of two congregations —one at the Martel Furnace and the other nearer the center of the village.
The Episcopalians have the lots and soon will begin the erection of a churchly edifice. Meanwhile the rector, Mr. Stanley, is pushing the construction of a church at the Island.
The Village Board have resolved to ask Congress to make this a port of entry, and doubtless this will be done.
Ten miles up the D. M. & M. R. R. are the first kilns; on the east side of the track and just beyond is Moran Station.
Brevoort Lake, famous for its fine fishing, is only two miles distant from this point. The country is heavily timbered with maple, beech and black birch, and is excellent for farming purposes. The road then passes through some Cedar swamps. Good cedar grows in abundance on both sides of Carp River. Palmer Station is thirteen miles from St. Ignace. Thirty-two miles from St. Ignace are the second kilns of the Martel Furnace Company. This company is clearing about 1,000 acres per year and converting its timber into charcoal.
Trout Lake Station is twenty-six miles from St. Ignace. The soil is sandy and the timber largely pine and hemlock in the locality. To the west of the station a short distance are five lakes, from one-half to one mile in length, which are full of trout and other fish. Deer and other game abound in the forests. These lakes are about 250 feet above Lake Huron. East of these lakes is a belt of timbered land. The soil is a splendid clay marl. The wheat which took the first prize at the last State fair was grown in this section of the State.
Prentis' Bay, about twenty-five miles northeast of the new court house at St. Ignace, thirty-six from Cheboygan, by water, and 350 from Detroit, was settled in 1872, and now boasts of a population of ninety souls. In 1881, the steam saw-mill was operated by E. J. Swart, who was also Postmaster.
Dollarville is a new town, located two miles west of Newberry, named after the general manager of the American Lumber Company, Mr. Dollar. This company commenced the erection of a mill with a capacity of 100,000 feet of lumber daily, in July, 1882. The mill and lumber camps give employment to 400 men. Besides the mill, a store, boarding-house and several buildings are erected.
Garfield Harbor, on the north shore of Lake Michigan, in the Upper Peninsula, is a lumber point that has recently grown up at the place formerly known as Mille Coquin. During the past season, the place has had a notable growth. Hall, Thompson & Co. have erected a huge steam mill there, and have pushed forward 'building energetically, until now the mill is fairly surrounded by dwellings and business houses.
Jacob City was founded by the German colonists, under John Becker, in July, 1881.
Round Island.—During the war of 1812, while the Americans were cruising about the island, seeking an opportunity to recapture it from the English, an American officer with a number of men landed on this island to reconnoiter the enemy's position, and if possible find an advantageous point at which to erect a battery. They proceeded cautiously across the island until they came to the point nearest Mackinac Island. They selected the point just above the old lime kiln, seen so plainly from the village, as the most advantageous position for a battery, and at once began their return. No sooner, however, had the movement been discovered by the British, than two or three hundred birch-bark canoes, with several bateaux and other boats, were launched, and a large party of Indians started in pursuit. They were not long in gaining the island. The party, suspicious of the approach of the Indians, hastened back toward their boats; but the island was just at that time covered with a plentiful crop of raspberries, and the men, ignorant of the foe, loitered somewhat, in spite of all that could be said to them. When they reached the boat, the Indians could be seen skulking through the woods after them, and one of their number, a Frenchman, had been captured.
St. Joseph's Island is in St. Mary's River, near Drummond's Island, at the mouth of the river.
Drummond's Island was, for many years, the British headquarters for Indian affairs. The place was named in honor of Sir Peter Drummond, British commander at Isle St. Joseph in 1800. The remains of the old British post are well preserved.
Les Chenaux.—Twelve miles northeast of Mackinac, a charming trip by steamer or sailboat, are the Chenaux Islands, a group of perhaps seventy-five islands, with a labyrinth of deep, swift channels, winding in and out among them, and many land-locked harbors, where one has to keep a vigilant lookout to avoid being lost, even the compass seeming occasionally to get bewildered. This was the favorite fishing ground of the Indians, and the waters are literally alive with all the finest varieties of fish known in the region. Whitefish of delicious flavor are caught, weighing from ten to twenty-five pounds, and muskallonge weighing from thirty to thirty-five pounds. A party of eight persons, in one day last season, caught over a ton of fish, of all kinds, with hook and line. Connoisseurs say there is a marked difference in the flavor of the fish caught on the east and west sides of Mackinac Island, and those of the Chenaux are considered fit for any epicurean. Brook trout, weighing from three to three and a half pounds, are frequently caught in the small streams emptying into the Straits among the Chenaux.
Scammon's Harbor is the entrance between La Salle Island and Boot Island, one of the Chenaux group. This is a secure harbor for vessels of a large size. The Government works for the construction and repair of lighthouses are located at this place. The entrance is surrounded by high lands of a romantic character. This is also a fine fishing station. Mackinac trout and whitefish are taken in great abundance, and several fine speckled trout streams are near by on the main land.
The residence of Father A. D. G. Piret was at the Chenaux. Father Piret owned a large tract of land in this locality, and came to be known before his death as the "Hermit of Les Chenaux." The land which he owned has now passed into the hands of Mackinac parties.
WILLIAM S. ALLEN, railroad agent, was born in Massachusetts February 2, 1856. At the age of eighteen, he began business in Massachusetts, and continued at it four years, and then went to Detroit and kept books for one year; was next in Kansas City, Mo., a short time, and there clerked in a bank for one year, and then went to St. Ignace as paymaster for the D. M. & M. R. It. one year; then took charge of station and merchandise and ore dock in 1881; is agent for several steamship lines; is a member and Trustee of the Congregational Church.
C. Y. BENNETT, attorney, was born October 16, 1858; began reading law in 1875; was admitted to practice December 31,. 1879; began practice at Plainwell, Allegan Co., Mich.; came to St. Ignace in 1880 and began practice of law.
PHILIP D. BISSELL son of Benjamin and Nancy Howe (Bissell), was born at St. Clair, Mich., October 6, 1845; was educated in the St. Clair schools until 1861, when he entered the Marshall High School, under Prof. Perry; he graduated from that school June 30, 1864. When about entering the State University, he enlisted in the Ninth Michigan Infantry, Veteran Volunteers, and joined the command at Chattanooga, Tenn.; he served until mustered out at Nashville in 1865. Returning, he worked in the office of the Post and Tribune at Detroit. Subsequently, he studied in the Eastman Business College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., completing his studies there in the spring of 1866; he was appointed clerk in Naval Paymaster Jackson's office at Washington, D. C.; he held that position until March, 1870. In 1871, he located at St. Clair City, where he held the position of local editor of the Republican. In June, 1874, he entered on the publication of the Marine City Gazette, continuing there until April 15, 1877. In May of the latter year, he issued the first number of the pioneer paper, the Au Sable News. On February 10, 1881, he purchased the St. Ignace Republican office from Leonard Higgins, and began editorial work here a few days later; he held the position of Clerk of Au Sable Village three years; he was appointed Clerk of St. Ignace Village, vice Ambro Bettes, resigned, which position he now fills; he was a delegate to the State Republican Conventions of 1876 and 1880, first from St. Clair County and lastly from Iosco; he was married to Miss S. S. Hanna, daughter of David Hanna, of St. Clair, January 2, 1871. The children of this marriage are Minnie Robinson (born at St. Clair in 1871), Margaret (born at Marine City in May, 1875), and Daisy (born at Au Sable February 17, 1879). Under Mr. Bissell the Republican has been enlarged twice. It is one of the best local weeklies in the State; is printed entire at St. Ignace.
WILLIAM J. BROWN, dealer in boots and shoes and retail liquors, was born in Toronto, Canada, March 27, 1857; was book-keeping for his father in Collinwood, Canada, for six years; he came to St. Ignace and ran a meat market a short time; then opened a saloon, and next opened a boot and shoe house. He was married to Miss Arletta Updegraph, of Pennsylvania, in 1878. They have one child—C. A..
FELIX CODIEUX, Justice of the Peace and Coroner, was born in Rochester, N. Y., August 20, 1840; began sailing at seventeen years of age, and followed it for three years; was then in Iowa and Chicago until 1862, at which time he enlisted in the army, where he remained until 1865; then lived in Chicago a short time, and was next on Mackinaw Island keeping hotel, inspecting fish and coopering three years; was then at different kinds of work for several years, and then came to St. Ignace and began contracting and building; he held many county, town and school offices; is member of Good Templars Lodge, and was married in 1868.
HENRY COMSTOCK (Mason House) was born in Wayne County, N. Y., March 4, 1844; began farming at the age of eighteen, with his father four years, and was then engaged in speculating and trading till 1876, at which time he came to Emmet County, Mich., and took up 160 acres land and worked it five years; came to St. Ignace in 1880, opened saloon, and opened hotel and livery business in spring of 1882; owns fine farm lands and five acres city property; has held many town, county and school offices.
THOMAS I. EVERETT, contractor in ties and telegraph poles, P. O. St. Ignace, was born in Prescott, Ontario, Canada, March 2, 1850; received a common school education and remained on the farm until thirty years of age; came to Michigan in 1880; was for one year in employ of Martel Furnace Company. In 1881, began contracting; has built for renting purposes several buildings. Is now arranging, in partnership, with a brother, to open extensive lime works in the vicinity of St. Ignace, which will be in operation early in 1883. Owns considerable timber land; is an Episcopal Methodist and a member of the order of Good Templars; was married to Miss Eliza Connors, of Prescott County, Ontario, Canada, June 17, 1873.
CHRISTOPHER FAUT, of the firm of Faut & Monteith, general merchandise, was born in Ohio, February 13, 1850; received a common-school education, and was farming until the age of thirty-one; came to St. Ignace in 1882, and engaged in his present business. He was married to Miss Nettie A. Nelson, of Illinois, in 1874. They have six children—Earnest E., Delbert, Nettie A., Lura A., Lottie A. and Lester M.
HENRY GIBSON, editor of the St. Ignace Free Press, was born at Fort Gratiot December 10, 1836; his father, Nathaniel Gibson, was born at Cazenovia, N. Y., and came to Michigan in 1832. Mr. Gibson was educated in the schools of Wayne County; in 1864, he entered Hillsdale College, and subsequently studied at Albion College, from which institution he graduated in 1865; in 1857, he entered the Spirit of the Times, then published at Saginaw City; in 1859, he worked on the Enterprise at East Saginaw, and also on the Bay City Express, then published by Perry Joslin; subsequently, he was employed on the Saginaw Valley Republican; between the establishment of the Express and the Republican. Mr. Gibson visited Kansas, where he engaged in newspaper work at Leavenworth; in 1861, he enlisted in the Second Michigan Infantry and proceeded to Washington; subsequently took part in the First Bull Run, and continued in service until October, 1863, when he received his discharge to accept a commission as Second Lieutenant in the First Michigan Cavalry; from the fall of 1863 to 1864, he labored in various employments; in the summer of the latter year he entered the office of the Saginaw Courier; subsequently he aided in compilation of the first directory of Saginaw County; in 1868, he entered the office of the Kalamazoo Gazette, changing to the Telegraph a short time after; in 1870, he worked a short time on the East Saginaw Courier, and in 1872, he returned to the office of the Kalamazoo Telegraph; in 1876, he worked in the office of Emmet County Republican; again in the Kalamazoo Telegraph office: and before the close of the year, accepted a position on the Emmet County Democrat; in 1877, he inaugurated the West Virginia Oil Record at Volcano, W. Va.; in 1878, he assisted in the publication of the Northern Independent; in 1878, he purchased a half interest in the Petosky Record; there he continued to edit that journal until November, 1880, when he went to East Saginaw; in 1881, he was employed on the Kalamazoo Telegraph; next was editor of the Petosky Daily Record, and next was employed on the Charlevoix Sentinel; in March, 1882, he accepted the position of editor on the Northern Spy (now St. Ignace Free Press), which he conducts at present. Mr. Gibson was married to Miss Louisa E. Chandler, of Van Buren County, Michigan, July 9, 1866. They are the parents of Eliza A., born March 4, 1872. He has taken an active interest in politics.
ALFRED J. GENNELL, grocer and general store, was born on Mackinac Island July 27, 1844; was educated at Chicago, Ill. At the age of thirteen, he began the blacksmith's trade. At the age of seventeen, he joined the army, where he remained three years; was next in wholesale fish business in Chicago; came to St. Ignace in 1881; was married to Miss Josephine Blair, of Watertown, Wis., December 24, 1867. They have five children.
EDWIN HADLEY, attorney at law, was born in Indiana August 28, 1839; graduated at the State University of Michigan in 1861; graduated at Albany Law School in 1862; enlisted in the army in 1862, and was discharged on account of wounds in 1865. In 1865, he began the practice of law in Adrian, Mich., and remained till May, 1881, at which time he came to St. Ignace. In August, 1864, he was appointed Judge Advocate of Military District of Indiana. Was married to Miss Nancy Wines, of Ann Arbor, Mich., in 1862. They have four children—Elizabeth, William, Annie and Ettie.
L. A. HARROLD, livery, St. Ignace, was born in Michigan in 1854; at the age of fifteen, he began business of general merchant, in which he was engaged four years. In 1875, he went to California for seven years in the carpet and oil business; came to St. Ignace in 1881, and started his present business.
B. B. HAZLETON, manager for Mackinac Lumber Company, was born in New York State, May 18, 1829; went to Marshall, Mich., and began work as a machinest. At this place he stayed until 1848; was next at Battle Creek two years; then went to Buffalo, N. Y.; then to Oswego, and came to Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1856; he then went to Allegan County and built a mill for himself, and remained till 1860; has been lumbering in different places to this time, and has also been steamboating a part of the time; came to St. Ignace in 1877, and engaged with the Mackinac Lumber Company; in the meantime he has bought an interest in Mackinac Lumber Company. This company employs about two hundred men; it owns its own boats and tugs, and owns also about 65,000 acres of fine timber land. Mr. Hazleton has held all county, school and town offices. Was married to Miss Sarah Lane, of Hannibal, Oswego Co., N. Y., January 25, 1850. They have three children—Celia A., Ella M., Frankie A.
PETER W. HOMBACH, now Postmaster of St. Ignace, Mackinac County, Mich., was born September 23, 1835, in the village of Kelters, on the banks of the River Sieg, Prussia. He received an elementary schooling in Germany, in the German language, and on his arrival in the States had no knowledge of English; but through his own exertions he learned to write, read and speak English pretty well, without ever having received any instruction in that language. His father, Henry Hombach, died in the fall of 1843, when P. W. Hombach was about seven years of age. He resided with his mother and an only brother named Carl until a war broke out, in 1852, between Prussia and Austria, about the provinces of Schleswig and Holstein, when his brother was to be drafted into the military service of Prussia. At that time, his mother, hearing that his cousin Engelbert Rosgen, who had been in several campaigns, was tired of military service, and had decided to emigrate to the United States, consented to let her younger son go with him. By doing this, her elder and only remaining son avoided military service. Peter and his cousin left home February 11, 1852, arrived in the city of Cologne February 13, stayed there till February 17, and arrived in the city of Antwerp the next day. On February 22, they embarked on board the sailing ship Ucas for New Orleans, at which port they arrived May 1, 1852, almost half starved. Only two deaths occurred on this long voyage from among three hundred to five hundred passengers. The passengers were badly used, and, upon complaint being made in New Orleans, the Captain, mates and all hands, except the boatswain and third mate, were arrested and imprisoned; and he witnessed a hard fight between the sailors and policemen. On the 3d of May, the steamer Pawnee No. 2 came alongside of the Ucas, and took on board the passengers that wanted to go to St. Louis. Here the first principles of Republicanism were implanted in him by witnessing the cruelty of a slavedriver, who compelled slaves to load salt upon a vessel by whipping them with a horsewhip, whereupon he declared that if that was American liberty he wanted none of it, and has, therefore, always voted with the Republican party. Leaving New Orleans on the 3d of May, he arrived at St. Louis on the 10th. He remained there a few weeks, then went to Peru, Ill., at which place he arrived about the 1st of June, 1852. This being the great cholera year, he saw people dying almost as fast as they could be carried to the cemetery. In one instance, two brothers-in-law at La Salle, Ill., went to work after they had eaten breakfast and were both laid in their graves at noon. He stayed in Peru till May 5, 1853, then went to Chicago, where he remained till the 13th of that month, when he took the propeller Niagara, by way of Milwaukee, for Mackinac Island, Mich., at which place he arrived May 17; then went with his companions, Karl Shaffer and Phillip Reed, to Cheboygan, Mich. He here learned the cooper's trade, and remained till the cannons at Fort Mackinac announced the 4th of July, 1854, at midnight, when he arrived on the fairy island again, never dreaming of staying there one-fifth of a century. On arriving at Mackinac, he went to work at his trade with William Lawler, who, with two of his children, died of cholera August 5, 1854. Mr. Lawler would have been his brother-in-law if he had lived. He married Miss Margaret McCue at Mackinac, October 6, 1855. Mrs. Hombach was born in the County of Leitrim, Ireland, in 1834, and came to the United States in 1851. They have had six children—William H. Hombach, who is alive and married, and is now Deputy Collector and Inspector of Customs; Allen and Margaret died in infancy; Medora, George H. and Jessie M. Mr. Hombach's beloved mother, Ursula Hombach, died in May, 1873, at her home in Prussia. On the 12th of May, 1873, he moved from Mackinac Island to St. Ignace, Mich., where he engaged in store-keeping and general merchandise, and was appointed Postmaster here November 3, 1874, which office he has held by a faithful discharge of his duties till it has grown from a salary of $13.51 per quarter to a third-class office with a salary of $1,000 per year. He has held various offices of trust in Mackinac Island, as well as at St. Ignace. He was, during the war of the rebellion, Deputy Provost Marshal; has been Justice of the Peace for the last twenty years, Notary Public, and took the United States census in three townships of Mackinac County, Mich., in 1880. Gen. J. A. Waltz took it in two other townships. He is also now engaged in the sale of general merchandise, buying and selling farming lands and village lots; of the latter, he has a great many to sell, platting his own land in the village of St. Ignace. He voted in 1856, with three others, the electoral ticket for Gen. John C. Fremont, only four Republican votes being polled in Mackinac County that year. He has lived to see the day when he was one of the instrumentalities, with the other members of the newly-formed Congressional District Committee, of which Perry Hannah, of Traverse City, was chairman, and Charles Briggs, of Houghton, Peter W. Hombach, of Mackinac, and Edward Breitung, of Marquette, were the committee in calling the convention which unanimously nominated the Hon. Edward Breitung for Congress, as the Republican standard-bearer of the newly-created Eleventh Congressional District of Michigan. He has been a delegate to various Republican State and Congressional Conventions for the last twenty years. He built a very pretty building for a post office, at his own expense, and moved the United States Post Office therein July 21, 1882. He took a very deep interest in getting the village of St. Ignace incorporated in the winter of 1881-82, and helped liberally with his private funds to incorporate and improve the town. He planted, in 1862-63, an orchard on the Island of Mackinac (which is now owned by George Truscott), which contained among other fruit seventeen varieties of choice plums, being from the nursery of William Adair, of Detroit, and has now, in the fall of 1882, planted another orchard of choice varieties of plums on private claim Nos. 3 and 9, at St. Ignace, and considers there is no better climate in the United States for the culture of that fruit.
D. B. JOHNSON of the firm of Huff & Johnson, general store, was born in Michigan May 10, 1857; was engaged in school and on a farm to the age of twenty-three, and was next in a grocery two years; he next came to St. Ignace February 14, 1882, and opened his present business. His travels have been confined to the United States on pleasure
A. McKAY, foreman of the mill of Mackinac Lumber Company, was born in Crawford County, Penn., May 8, 1846; received a good education; attended a commercial college in Pennsylvania, and came West in 1867, and engaged in the lumber business four years; was next in the mill business for himself five years, and, in 1876, engaged with the Mackinac Lumber Company as general outside manager; he is a member of the order of Freemasons; was married to Miss Narcissus A. Mason of Michigan in 1871. They have four children—Annie Belle, Burton, Ella, Pearle and Francis.
PATRICK McNALLY, butcher, was born in Canada in 1842; followed fishing twenty years, and began the butcher business in 1880; is a member of the Catholic Church, and was married to Miss Mary Brown of Michigan, in 1871. They have four children—Patrick, Annie, Sarah and Peter.
H. M. MASON, druggist and grocer, was born in Utica, N. Y., November 27, 1845; received a good education, and went into the army March 8, 1861; went in as a private and was mustered out as a lieutenant in 1865; then worked at railroading for five years as agent; operator on the Flint & Pere Marquette, and Fort Wayne, Jackson & Saginaw Railroad; was then in a store in Flint, Mich., for two years as clerk with his brother, and was then admitted as a partner in general store, where he remained for five years, and came to St. Ignace in 1880, and started his present business in 1880, after he had built his store; he is at present conducting a general supply store, coal, wood, feed, salt, and has a dock in connection with his business. Mr. Mason started in the world without means, and now has a handsome and profitable business. He was married in 1877, in Canada. He has two children—Elta and Charley.
EDMOND MASSEY, Union House, was born in Montreal, Canada, October 23, 1834; came to the United States in 1863, and located in Chicago, Ill.; came to St. Ignace in 1875, and began business; started in hotel business in 1880; owns city lots in South Chicago, and town lots in St. Ignace; is a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge, and also of the Catholic Church.
ROBERT JOHN RUSSELL, Everts House, was born in Canada June 5, 1852; lost his parents in infancy; managed to obtain a fair education, and was bound out to the age of nineteen; was then a carpenter for four years; then saw-mill worker and filer for fifteen years in Canada and the United States, till September 16, 1882, at which time he took charge of the Everts House at St. Ignace; was married to Miss Ellen Hawk of Canada in 1875.
WILLIAM SAULSON, general merchant, was born in Russia, Poland, June 3, 1856; came to the United States in 1872; lived in New York State a few years, then was in Alpena, Mich., a short time, clerking in dry goods house; was next in Sheboygan three years as salesman in dry goods and clothing store, and came to St. Ignace in 1881, and opened his present business May 18,1881; is a member of the order of Odd Fellows; was married to Miss Annie Reinhartz of Russia, in 1880. They have one child—Ida.
WILLIAM E. SMYTH, Jr., jeweler and expressman, was born July 12, 1819; began the jewelry business at the age of fifteen, at Saginaw, where he remained till 1872; was next in business in Alpena five years, and then to Mackinaw Island in business until 1831, at which time he came to St. Ignace and engaged in the jewelry and express business.
ALBERT H. STEINBRECHER, M. D., was born in Detroit, Mich., in 1858; began the drug business at the age of sixteen; at the age of eighteen, began reading medicine; went to Detroit Medical College, in 1875 and 1876; then, from 1878 to 1881, went to the same college, graduating in 1881; while attending college was house physician of St. Luke's Hospital at Detroit; came to St. Ignace in 1881; is Examining Pension Surgeon of this district; is Town Health Officer, Village Health Officer, School Inspector and Surgeon for the D. M. & M. Railroad, and County Physician of Mackinac County.
WILLIAM J. TROTMAN, son of William and Mary Trotman, was born at Dursley, Gloucestershire, Eng., July 20, 1859; he received a district school education until the age of fifteen, when he immigrated to Charlotte, Mich; there he entered the office of the Charlotte Republican, remaining there fifteen months, when he moved to Detroit to take a position in the office of the Michigan Ready Print Association, under Joseph Saunders. In 1878, he connected himself with the Midland County Courier, where he remained about two years. In April, 1880, he came to Mackinac Island, where he entered the office of the Sentinel. In August, 1880, he moved to St. Ignace. Mr. Trotman is the pioneer printer of St. Ignace, and is now foreman of the Republican office.
AMOS M. WITHROW, of A. M. Withrow & Co., dealers in hardware, was born in Canada (Ontario) September 27, 1854; received a good education; attended a college at London, Ontario, graduating in 1872; was then engaged until 1875 on the north shore of Lake Superior as book-keeper for a mercantile house; then went to Toronto as accountant for manufacturing business and was there until 1878; he was next book-keeper for the Mackinac Lumber Company at St. Ignace until 1880, at which time he began the hardware business for himself; he was one of the early city fathers; was married to Miss Fannie S. Wray, of London, in 1878. They have one child—Mable.
The present site of Mackinac City, on the Lower Peninsula, opposite the Island of Mackinac, was occupied by an Indian village called Pe-quod-e-nonge, when first visited by the French, and in its history we find that it is one of the most ancient European settlements in the interior of this country, having been a stopping-place for the Couriers du Bois and Jesuit missionaries as early as 1620. Quebec was founded in 1608. The permanent settlement which was afterward commenced is due to the exertions of Father Marquette, who went there in 1671, with a party of Hurons, having in the previous years, 1669 and 1670, located a mission station at Point St. Ignatius. This was eight years before La Salle's expedition through our lakes, and was the first or second of European settlements made northwest of Fort Frontenac or Cad-ara-cqui, on Lake Ontario. It became an important post, and continued to be the seat of the fur trade and the undisturbed rendezvous of the Indian tribes during the period that France exercised jurisdiction over the Canadas.
Pe-quod-e-nonge, with its coasts and islands before it, has been the theater of some of the most exciting and interesting events in Indian history previous to the arrival of the "white man; " it was the metropolis of a portion of the Ojibway and Ottawa nations. It was there that their Congress met to adopt a policy which terminated in the conquest of the country south of it—it was there that the tramping feet of thousands of plumed and painted warriors shook Pe-quod-e-nonge, while dancing their war dances—it was from there that the startling sound of the war yell of these thousands was wafted to the adjacent coast and island, making the peaceful welkin ring with their unearthly shouts of victory or death.
South of Mackinac City, from two to ten miles, are several beautiful lakes, with a warm soil surrounding them, covered with a very heavy growth of hard wood, especially the sugar-maple. which has attained a gigantic growth. Fish of different varieties abound in these lakes. Turtles nearly one and one-half feet in diameter have been taken in some of them.
Black bears are killed in the interior, and often near the shores of the inland lakes, raccoons, marten and foxes are numerous; partridges and pigeons are plenty in their season, and ducks are found in the small lakes and rivers.
The prospects for this new municipality are very bright, and its growth is only the question of a few short years.
MRS. J. H. ANDREWS, Palace Hotel, was born in Ohio December 12, 1845; received a good education, and, at the age of ten, came to Michigan and located in Newaygo County; lived there until nineteen years old, at which time she was married to Mr. J. H. Andrews, of Ohio; was then on a farm two years; then lived at his old home five years; then in Petoskey two years in boarding house, and three years at other points keeping boarders; they then went to Indian River and kept boarders one year, and then kept hotel a short time; they came to Mackinac City in July, 1882, built a house and began keeping hotel. They have two children—William O. Andrews and Eva A. Andrews.
MRS. E. C. CAMPBELL, grocery and restaurant, was born in New York State February 16, 1889; received a good education, and began teaching school at the age of eighteen; taught two years; came, at the age of twenty, to Northport, Mich., and taught four years, and was married, at the age of twenty-five, to Mr. Henry A. Campbell. She then retired, at the end of ten years, at which time her husband died. She then went into the millinery business for four years; then sold out; came to Mackinac City in March, 1882, and started her present business; handles sewing machines in connection with present business. She has one child—Clara N.
F. R. DAY. Observer, Signal Service U. S. A., was born in New York, January 11, 1862; received a common school education; joined the service at the age of eighteen, and went to Washington seven months at school, and then to Boston, Mass., sixteen months, and came to Mackinac June 28, and opened the station August 20.
GEORGE GANE, grocer and provision and gents' furnishing goods, was born in Canada August 1, 1852; came to the United States at the age of sixteen; farmed until 1879, at which time he began his present business in Five Lakes; continued it till March, 1882, when he came to Mackinac City, and started his present business; he was Town Clerk of Clam Lake one year; was School Director and Assessor three years; is a member of the Presbyterian Church; is Trustee and Deacon of same. Was married to Miss Sarah Whaley, of Clam Lake, March 9, 1871.
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