difficulties incidental to settling a new country; and broadly and well did they lay the foundations of future prosperity.

In the following brief references to the true old settlers of Kent, mention is merely made of their coming and their stay. In the pages devoted to biography, every effort has been made to deal fully with the personal history of the county; and if the worthy should escape notice, they must owe it to negligence on their part.

It is impossible to state precisely when Rev. Gabriel Richard first appeared among the Indians of the Grand river. It is presumed, however, with some authority, that his arrival here occurred early in 1799. This celebrated missionary priest was born at Saintès, Charente Infr., France, Oct. 15, 1764, came to Baltimore in 1792, and arrived at Detroit in June, 1798. He inaugurated the first newspaper published in Michigan, Aug. 31, 1809, traversed the Lower and Upper Penisulas, in 1823 was elected member of Congress from Michigan, took a noble part in everything affecting the interests of the State, and died full of years and honors Sept. 13, 1832.

It is not stated that Father De Jannay visited Grand river, but every circumstance points him out as the same priest who passed through the camp grounds in 1848.

Isaac McCoy, better known as the Rev. Mr. McCoy, visited the Indian towns at the Rapids in 1823, and proposed to the Ottawas that in consideration of their surrender of one square mile of land the Government would furnish them with a teacher, an agricultural instructor and a blacksmith. McCoy, who was a resident of Fort Wayne, visited Gen. Cass, at Detroit, June 28, 1822, for the purpose of securing the privileges of the Chicago treaty. The Governor had already appointed a commissioner to make definite arrangements with the Indians for the sites of the missionary stations, and Grand Rapids had been designated as a suitable place for the Ottawa mission. Mr. McCoy made the journey to this place in company with a Frenchman, named Paget, in the following year. On their arrival they met with so many difficulties that they failed to accomplish their purpose. A council was held with the Ottawa chiefs, and Mr. McCoy addressed them through an interpreter, at considerable length, setting forth the plans of the Government and the advantages which the Indians would derive from a cheerful acceptance of them. Kewaykushquom, chief of the Ottawa village, replied in a brief speech, refusing to accept the conditions offered. He concluded his oration by stating that he was aware the Indian must soon give up his hunting grounds to the whites, who still continued to crowd the land like locusts, but he was prepared to meet whatever trials God sent upon himself or his people. In the characteristic language of his nation he said: Ga-apitchi-debweiendangibanig oma aking, nongom apitchi mino aiawag gijigong" Those that had a perfect faith on earth, are now exceedingly happy in Heaven. The mission of Mr. McCoy

to the Ottawas failed. However, he succeeded in establishing a blacksmith shop at Kalamazoo in September, 1823.

Rev. Leonard Slater, whose name appears in connection with the history of the Baptist society, arrived at Grand Rapids in May, 1828, accompanied by a Government blacksmith and two or three laborers. He established the Baptist mission, which afterward performed efficient service in the interests of civilization. The life of this pioneer was attended by many hardships; he began his work at Grand Rapids by erecting a log house for his own residence, and a log school-house. These were the first buildings ever erected by civilized persons on the western bank of the Rapids, although the American Fur Company had built a small store-house two miles up the river previous to 1777. The labors of Mr. Slater were well directed, and consequently won the respect of not a few savages. He erected a block school-house, was liberal and at the same time judicious in his distribution of presents. Consequently his endeavors to conciliate and to convert the Ottawas were not wholly barren; nor were his labors to educate them without a degree of success. After laboring for some time in this rude building, a frame school-house was erected, and the old block house converted into a dwelling. This modern mission school-house was erected in 1837, by the same mission, and was situated near the corner of Bridge and Front streets. It was originally devoted to the Indian children attached to Mr. Slater's mission, but, owing to the influx of the whites and to the indisposition of the Indians, it was soon after appropriated to the uses of the latter.

Mr. Slater was born at Worcester, Mass., Nov. 16, 1802. He died April 27, 1866. His children, Sarah Emily, born Aug. 12, 1827; George, Feb. 9, 1829; Francis, Dec. 31, 1832, and Brainard, Sept. 21, 1835, were the first white children born of American parents in the Grand Rapids district.

Richard Godfroy, whose name will be forever honorably identified with the treaties of Saginaw, Chicago, Detroit, and even Greenville, came to Grand Rapids in 1832. He is the son of Gabriel Godfroy, patentee of the lands on which Ypsilanti city is built, of the country_round Elkhart city, Ind., of many beautiful tracts from Detroit to Terre Haute, and northwestward to Chicago. He was Indian Agent at Lowell for some time previous to 1832, and must be considered a pioneer of Kent county. Two years later he opened a trading post, and carried it on successfully for many years. The great lawsuit-"Godfroy, v. Beardsley and others "-in which his claim to the valuable lands, granted in the letter of President John Quincy Adams, Nov. 28, 1826, and in the deed of the Indian Reserve, given to Richard Godfroy, Feb. 2, 1827, signed by John Paxton, James M. McCloskey, and Pierre Morain or Perish, was sought to be maintained. This Pottawatomie chief Perish, to whom a section of land at the confluence of the Elkhart river and St. Joseph river was granted by the treaty of Chicago made in 1821, received $300 from Mr. Godfroy in consideration of this deed. In

the "History of Elkhart County, Indiana," written by the writer of this work for the publishers of this volume in 1880, a copy of the correspondence which passed between Morain, the Indian, Godfroy the trader, and John Quincy Adams, President of the United States, on this subject, with the patents and deeds, are given on pages 729-'31. If an opinion could be offered, it would simply be, that the question of Richard Godfroy's title to those lands seems to be based not on law, but rather upon the eccentricities of law. This respected pioneer is one of the few very early settlers now living. His daughter, Cornelia, now Mrs. Sarsfield, was the first white child born at Grand Rapids.

Capt. Daniel Marsac, of Detroit, settled at Lowell in 1829, as an Indian trader. Two years later he erected a substantial log hut, and established a regular trading post. Here John Ball slept for the first time within Kent county. The name of Marsac brings up many stirring reminiscences of Detroit, Saginaw, Mackinac, and old Chicago.

Trapper Lincoln, an old man even at the period the first American settlers began to pour in, passed his days from 1829 until 1860 in the old hut on the shore of Lincoln lake, in Spencer township. He moved to Montcalm county, where he built the Lincoln Mill above Greenville, and where he died.

Edward Robinson settled in Ada in 1830. He was a brother of Rix Robinson, and for many years resided near the home of "Uncle Rix." He was the father of 13 children, to whom he gave the general title, "The Baker's Dozen."

David Tucker and Gideon H. Gordon claim the honors of first settlement in the township of Wyoming. They arrived in Michigan in 1832, and leaving Detroit sought out for themselves the beautiful homes which the section of country around Grandville offered.

Toussaint Campau came to the Rapids while still a youth in the employ of Louis. He made the district the home of his more advanced years. The pioneer has gone with the majority; his widow is still among the old people of the county.

Rev. Frederick Baraga, the well-known Indian scholar, antiquarian and lexicographer, settled in Grand Rapids in June, 1833, as resident priest. Under his direction a frame church building was erected on the west side of the river, One of his parishioners, Louis Campau, aware that the existence of this church on the west bank would interfere materially with the plans of himself and others for building up the village on the east bank, entered into arrangements with Barney Burton for its removal. During the winter of 1833-'4, the little house of worship was moved across the river by Burton, and stands on Ottawa street at present, near Wood's carriage shop. This was the beginning of discontent. The impracticable trapper, hunter, and trader of the Saginaw could not be reasoned with on the subject. Rev. Mr. Baraga left the village forever, and the Catholic mission of the Rapids was temporarily

disorganized. This celebrated missionary wrote a grammar and dictionary of the Otchipwe language; was raised to the bishopric of Lake Superior, and subsequently Bishop of Buffalo. His travels led him to the Athabasca regions, and eastward still to the Hudson's Bay district, where he is remembered by the Indians and the Hudson's Bay Company's officers and men.

Baraga was a cousin of the emperor of Austria, one of the Rudolph Hapsburgs. T. B. Church visited him at Marquette a short time before his death. His sister, who held his estates in trust, and who died in 1878, sent remittance after remittance, to aid in carrying out the object of his missionary labors.

There

Joel Guild and his family, the first American settlers of Grand Rapids, accompanied the Dexter colony to Ionia in 1833. meeting Louis Campau, the pioneer of Western Michigan, Mr. Guild accompanied him to his trading post at the Rapids, purchased from him a building lot, and erected the first frame dwelling house on the site of the present City National Bank. It is stated positively that this early settler arrived early in June, 1833, while others place the date of his coming Aug. 12, that year.

Jonathan F. Chubb brought his family to Wyoming township in 1833, and purchased land between the foot of the Rapids and Grandville. After a four years' pursuit of agriculture he disposed of his farm, and inaugurated the agricultural business on Canal street in the village of Grand Rapids.

Ira Jones and Eliphalet Turner settled in the county in 1833, and were instrumental in building up its interests. These old settlers died in 1870, much regretted by a large circle of true friends. Myron Royce, a settler of Wyoming in 1833, located on section 9. Mr. Royce still resides in that township, on the old homestead.

Henry West came West in 1833 and selected his lands on section 20 of the same township.

Luther Lincoln, one of the first to enter lands in this county at the White Pigeon Land Office, with Louis Campau, came in 1833, and located the lands on which the village of Grandville stands.

Hiram Jennison arrived in 1833, and settling lands near the Lincoln tract, made Grandville his home.

Joseph B. Copeland and William R. Godwin, old settlers of 1833, entered lands adjacent to the Lincoln and Jennison properties, and became permanent settlers.

Eliphalet Turner arrived at Grand Rapids Aug. 11, 1833, but did not settle on the land now occupied by the city. He was, however, among the very first settlers of Kent county.

Barney Burton, whose widow still resides here, located lands in Paris township in 1833.

Edward Guild, Joel Guild and Daniel Guild, all well known among the old settlers, made locations within the present boundaries of Paris township in 1833.

James Vanderpool arrived in the township of Kent in 1833, and entered lands within the district now known as Paris township.

Jacob Winsor, son of Darius Winsor, was born in Onondaga county, N. Y., June 11, 1816, came to Michigan in 1833, and settled at Grand Rapids. His death took place Dec. 22, 1874.

Martin Ryerson, born at Paterson, N. J., Jan. 6, 1818, came to Grand Rapids in 1834, and entered into the employ of Richard Godfroy. In May, 1836, he became a pioneer of Muskegon, at which place he continued to reside until 1851, when he moved to Chicago.

Col. Horace Gray, of Grosse Isle, who was a resident of this place from 1834 to 1838, visited Grand Rapids in August, 1881, to acquaint himself with the great changes which progress wrought, as well as to visit the few survivors of the settlement of 1834.

James Clark, born at Rahway, N. J., Jan. 31, 1799, married Miss Catherine Powley, of New York, in January, 1821; immigrated in 1831, and settled in Superior township, Washtenaw Co., where he dwelt until February, 1834, the date of his settlement at Grand Rapids. His was the 14th white family to make Kent county a home. He was the pioneer of Plainfield township, where he died in 1867.

Hiram Jennison, born at Canton, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., May 11, 1813, immigrated to Michigan in 1834, and settled at Grandville the same year.

Ezekiel Davis was the first settler of the township of Grand Rapids, having located on section 34 in 1834.

Lewis Reed, Ezra Reed, and Porter Reed were among the settlers of 1834.

David S. Leavitt and Robert M. Barr settled in Grand Rapids township in 1834. A brother of Robert M. Barr arrived here shortly after, and settled permanently in the county.

Among the settlers of 1834 were Roswell Britton, Abraham Bryant, J. McCarthy, Ephraim P. Walker, Julius C. Ábel, all of whom settled at or near the village of Grandville; Robert Howlett, George Thompson, and Alvah Wanzy settled in Wyoming the same year.

Rev. Andrew Vizoisky, successor to Rev. Frederick Baraga, was one of the old settlers of 1835. He was born in Hungary, Austria, in 1792; immigrated in 1830, and, after a tour through Europe and the Canadas, entered the United States in 1831, where he lost little time in registering his name on the roll of citizenship. From 1831 to the close of 1834 he was the successor of Pere Monteog in the mission of St. Clair, having received his appointment from the Bishop of Detroit. At the close of 1834 he was transferred to the mission of Grand Rapids, and for over 17 years was among the most energetic and esteemed citizens of the growing village. It has been truly said that the ministry of this priest in Kent and adjoining counties was marked by unsurpassed devotion and its most gratifying results. No road was rough enough and no weather inclement enough to keep him from the post of