nearly fifty miles by team, and erected this building. The act providing for its construction was passed March 26, 1847, and was approved by William L. Greenly of Lenawee, at that time lieutenant governor and acting governor, Governor Felch having been elected U. S. senator. In the fall of the same year they had completed this frame building on block No. 115. It was two stories in height, about 60 by 100 feet in dimensions, and was surmounted by a plain belfry or cupola. In 1865 an addition of 16 feet was made to the south end. The original cost of the building, including commissioners' pay and expenses, 1847-49, was $17.868.46; appropritions of 1865 and 1867 for enlargement and furniture, $8,083.55; total, $25,952.01. The first governor inaugurated within its walls was Epaphroditus Ransom, father of Willis (Wyllys) C. Ransom, the present deputy railroad commissioner, and the last one was Charles M. Croswell, who was also the first governor inaugurated within the walls of the new capitol, January 1, 1879. Ten governors of Michigan were installed in office in the old capitol, of whom six served for two terms each. In its senate chamber and hall of representatives, during 32 years, the men whom Michigan has most delighted to honor imbibed their first lessons in statesmanship, and within those time-honored walls, now lying in ashes, was perfected most of that legislation which has placed our beautiful peninsular State in the front rank as regards educational, penal, and eleemosynary systems. During the dark hours of 1861-1865, when the nation's life hung trembling in the balance, and thousands of Michigan's bravest sons were baring their breasts to the storm of lead and iron hail that the republic might live, those old walls often rang with the fiery and patriotic utterances of Michigan's war governor and the generous, wise, and loyal men who were gathered with him in council, to determine what other sacrifices patriotism demanded of their people in view of the crises which were hourly threatening the existence of the national republic. Though superseded by a newer and more imposing structure, in whose shadow it stood, lonely and neglected, there were memories connected with it which were dear to the heart of many an old pioneer of Lansing, as was evinced by occasional remarks. dropped from the quivering lips of some of the grey-haired men standing near, as with bent forms and moist eyes they watched the heavy timbers which their strong arms and willing hands had raised, totter and plunge into the seething flames below in the process of destruction.

The exact cause of the fire cannot be determined, but it is supposed that the flue, near which it originated, was defective, although all the chimneys had been carefully examined by a practical mason, and repaired, so that they were believed to be perfectly safe. This is the fifth time that the Piatt Brothers have been called upon, within the past 10 years, to see their property devoured by flames, just as they were fairly launched in business. Luckily they are not called upon this time to bear all the loss, as will be seen by the amount of insurance above stated, but their prospective loss from inability to meet their orders will be heavy. It is hoped that they may conclude, after a full investigation of the matter, to rebuild.

J. Polhemus, who occupied a room in the second story of the old capitol, near where the fire broke out, was not as fortunate as any of the other occupants. He reached his room soon after the fire broke out, but was driven out by the dense smoke, almost suffocated, and lost everything in the way of clothing and furniture. Mr. Polhemus' loss falls very heavily on him, being an aged man and in straitened circumstances.

A BRIEF BIT OF HISTORY ABOUT THE LOCATION OF THE OLD CAPITOL

From the Evening News, Detroit, Dec. 16, 1882

LANSING, Mich., Dec. 16.-The fire in the old State capitol building broke out at 2:30 p. m., and the building is now (3:45 p. m.) wholly destroyed. The loss of Piatt Bros. will be heavy. They are said to be insured for $8,000. Most of the machinery and manufactured stock was saved. The fire originated in the garret from a defective chimney. Fortunately the wind was in the right direction. No other buildings were destroyed. The grand army of the republic occupied the upper story and saved most of their furniture.

*

The burning of the old State capitol at Lansing to-day makes the following brief bit of state history of interest at this time. The constitution of 1836 provided that the seat of government should be established at Detroit until 1847, when it should be permanently located by the legislature. In January, 1847, Gov. Felch called attention to this provision, and the legislature attempted to carry it out. After long and tedious effort-Ann Arbor, Jackson, Marshall, Kalamazoo and other places being determined to have it -a proposition was carried to locate it on the school section of the extreme northwestern township of Ingham county. It was known to be an unbroken wilderness, without even a good wagon road leading to it, but the absurdity of the thing disarmed opposition and the measure was carried in triumph. It was then voted to hold the next session there, in hopes that the difficulties of the situation would bring members to their senses and lead them to unite on some available point. There was scarcely a house in the neighborhood, and the site of the present city was covered with a dense growth of timber. But the commissioners went to work, cutting roads, cleaning streets and squares, and putting up buildings. Lumber for finishing purposes was hauled in wagons all the way from Flint, but in the face of all difficulties the "old capitol" was built and some sort of provision made for the members who met in January, 1848. The new village was first called Michigan, and then Lansing.

REMINISCENTIAL

BY GEORGE P. SANFORD

From the Lansing Journal, Feb. 22, 1883

As we are about to clamber down from the editorial tripod of the Journal office, we feel disposed to reminiscences. The September day in 1856 when we mounted the stage coach at Jackson to penetrate the north woods of Michigan's Capitol was bright and balmy. We had a new sheepskin from the Normal School authorities, and, having just turned our majority, we sallied out in life to take a new field of labor. Life lay before us. Heart within and God o'erhead buoyed us with hope and confidence.

As we made our way northward we penetrated a dense smoke from the burning forests, marshes, and swamps of central Michigan. As evening came on, while we were yet ten miles away, the darkness became impenetrable. A man with a lantern in the road ahead to pilot the way, and two others beside the leaders, enabled the driver to pick his way only with difficulty. All the passengers walked, including two ladies. A little girl of one of the ladies not being old enough to walk, a gentleman of the party took her in his arms and *See appendix

carried her. I noticed the gentleman closely. Tall, erect, with a benign and intelligent face, a deep, rich, cultured voice, he was a man to be noticed in any place. We shared with him the labor of carrying the little girl. Arriv ing in town, we stopped at the Lansing House, a frame building standing across the avenue, east of the present Lansing House, and which was kept by J. M. Shearer. We registered next to the kind gentleman who had carried the child. He registered, "H. Seymour, Utica, N. Y."

The next morning we sallied out and found our friend, John Horner, who was teaching for Miss Rogers, in the Michigan Female College, which occupied the Ohio House, in front of where C. T. Marks' livery stable is. He boarded at the Columbus House, a frame hotel standing where now is the Hudson House, and kept by Mr. C. C. Darling. We got a rig and drove to North Lansing, where we were to teach. Washington avenue was ungraded, and part of the way the roadway twisted about to avoid the stumps. In front of the present Methodist church was a deep gully. Down by Alton's cooper shop was another, from the bottom of which one could not see a block ahead or behind. There was no sidewalk, and few houses between the towns. J. Turner & Case kept a store on the corner of Franklin and Turner streets, and the genial, kindly smile which overspread the serene, honest, manly face, radiant with those large, luminous eyes of James Turner, when we met, lingers in our memory to this day. Mr. Turner lived in a one-story wood house, just north of his store, which is still standing. He was the director of the school district, and had hired us to teach the school a year for the then, to us, princely sum of $600. Miss A. C. Rogers, who had been preceptress of the Normal school while we had been a student there, had performed the kindly office for us of securing the engagement. The brick school-house in the first ward, recently removed to make way for the present one, was the scene of our labors. Miss Hattie Seymour was one of the assistant teachers. Miss Anna Post, now Mrs. D. W. Van Auken (her daughter was married the other day) was another. In the winter Miss Mary Horner, whom some of our readers have since known as Mrs. George P. Sanford, was the other. Mr. B. F. Simons was one of the students. The honest face of quiet little Jimmy Turner brightened as new ideas were grasped; Charley Lewis, the future famous M. Quad, kept the school in a roar with his funny declamations. Seymour Foster, whose father, Theodore Foster, was the superintendent of the reform school, which stood far out in the stumpy fields to the left, was a serious-faced, quiet boy. (Last fall teacher and pupil were respectively chairman of the democratic and republican county committees.) His bright sister, Fannie, gave promise of the fine features of the present Mrs. A. E. Cowles. Lelia Parmelee, now Bixby, was a handsomer girl than her late invalid face would indicate. H. H. Smith, D. L. Case, and James Turner were the potential triumvirate of Lower Town. James I. Mead kept a store on the corner of Cedar and Franklin streets, but he attended strictly to business. His young clerk, John Robson,, was just from the country, fresh and bright. H. H. Smith & Co. kept a store where Northrop's drug store now is, and between that and the hotel (now Franklin house), kept by Horace Angell, there were no buildings, as there were none between it and the river. D. W. Van Auken was the Company of H. H. Smith in the mercantile business, as he was of Miss Post in the prospective matrimonial business. John Tooker was a genial, witty young fellow, who worked in the foundry. Hart's mill was the only one in town, and was managed by Ben. Hart. Judge Hart yet lived in Lapeer. There were just four

brick buildings in town, the Benton House, the Merrifield building, occupied now by W. G. Patterson, the present Second National bank building, and the store of Mr. F. M. Cowles, since burned and rebuilt, where N. F. Jenison now is. Burr & Grove kept a hardware store about where Simons' Palace store is now. It was said that young George Grove would marry the sprightly Miss McFarlane. John Thomas & Co., of which firm Major Merrifield was a member, kept a dry goods store next door. David Ekstein kept cigars and toys, and Lederer & Brothers kept a clothing store about where Newman's store is now. D. W. Buck was in the furniture trade. J. C. Bailey kept the only bank in town in the present Second National' bank building. Van Murphy was postmaster, and kept the office up near the Hudson House.

J. W. & E. Longyear kept their law office over Bailey's bank. S. E. Longyear and R. C. Dart were law students in their office. It was whispered that young Dart was enamored of Miss Sarah Darling, one of the reigning belles of the time. S. D. Bingham, with his bushy hair and blue swallow-tail coat with brass buttons, held forth at the State offices, and it was an open secret that he was a suitor for the hand of the handsome Miss Charlotte Dexter, a student at the college. The brilliant George W. Peck was a star of the time. D. C. Leach lived in a one-story wood dwelling next north of the fine brick he afterwards built on Washington avenue. He was editor of the Republican, which was printed in a wooden building then standing in the rear of the Hudson house, but which has been removed, and is used by G. B. Sutton as a livery stable. The Journal was then edited by George W. Peck, who soon after sold it to S. P. Mead, and he in turn sold a half interest to J. M. Griswold. Orlando M. Barnes of Mason, was prosecuting attorney; to-day he received the opposition vote for U. S. senator. Dr. H. B. Shank, Col. Jones, Judge William Chapman, Judge Pinckney, that fall elected Judge of Probate, with others named, were among the leading citizens of Middle Town. A wooden bridge on Main street, one on Michigan avenue, and another on Franklin street, were the bridge supply of the town. A line of "elegant four-horse post coaches" to Jackson, and another to Detroit, were the principal means of communication of the State with its Capital. Byron G. Stout was Speaker, and young State Senator Ferry was a favorite among the young people. The Legislature elected Z. Chandler, of Detroit, to succeed Gen. Cass as U. S. Senator. Twelve years later we voted for him in the legislature for his third term. Gen Cass spoke during the campaign on the old State-house square, to a throng of the admiring democracy of central Michigan.

The school building for Middle Town was a one-story wood structure, near the Free-Will Baptist church. A year or two later the present Second-ward brick was erected at the western verge of the population.

A raw, straggling village of perhaps two thousand people, scattered over space enough for a place of 15,000, reached only by stages, the Capital of Michigan was not the pride of the State. The scream of the first locomotive was yet in the future. A grist-mill and a portable saw-mill, situated where Allen's lumber yard is, and run by the Ramsdells, now of Manistee, the Lower Town foundry, and Parmelee's carding mill, constituted the manufacturing interests of town. There are very few business firms in town unchanged. Dr. Shank remains, but is more interested in the growing professional fame of that young dare-devil boy Rush, than in his own work. A score or so of the business men remain. Harley Ingersoll began the dry goods business in a few weeks, and still remains in the "Double Mammoth." A. Cottrell was in

the gunsmith business; I. Gillett the jewelry line; Viele sold books. Dr. S. W. Wright kept a general store. Dr. Russell Thayer sold drugs, and his little boy has since been an alderman, and his pretty little daughter is the stately and accomplished Mrs. George B. Hall. The society belles of that day are now marrying off their daughters. The children then in the schools and the streets are now educating their families, and bearing the business burdens of the city. In seven different directions our citizens fly by the magic power of steam. A beautiful little city of ten thousand people has crowded out and replaced the rough backwoods town of twenty-six years ago. After spending four years in the university at Ann Arbor, and several years in the union army, we have since borne our part in these changes, which seem so magical, as best we might. We feel weary, and propose to take a brief rest.

MEMORIAL REPORT

BY GEORGE H. GREENE

DEATH OF CYRUS HEWITT

Lansing Republican, November 25, 1882

Cyrus Hewitt, a member of the State Pioneer Society, one of the oldest pioneers of Michigan and for many years one of its most prominent officials as well as an old and highly respected citizen of Lansing, departed this life on Thursday, Nov. 23, 1882, at about 5 o'clock P. M., aged 77 years.

Mr. Hewitt was born in Saratoga county, N. Y., Feb. 19, 1805. But little can be learned of his early life, but he came to Michigan in 1836, locating in Marshall, and engaging in his profession as a civil engineer and surveyor, laying out and platting several of the now flourishing towns along the line of the Michigan Central railroad, and north and south of it. In 1837 he came to Eaton Rapids, and from there descended the river to the present site of North Lansing, in a "dug-out," with two other men, and surveyed the Seymour mill property, taking the levels for the dam which was built there. One of these men was John W. Burchard, who lost his life by drowning while engaged in its construction. He was official surveyor of Calhoun county for many years, and also a United States surveyor, and surveyed the lands of Calhoun, Hillsdale, Jackson, and other counties. He was reputed to be the best surveyor of his day in the State of Michigan.

Mr. Hewitt came to Lansing in 1858 as an employé in the State land office, and was the able deputy of Samuel S. Lacey in that department from 1861 to 1865, when he succeeded Mr. Lacey in that office, serving one term, and gaining a state reputation as a most efficient officer. He was subsequently mayor of Lansing.

Mr. Hewitt had been engaged in banking and in milling previous to his removal to Lansing, and soon after his retirement from the land office he engaged in banking in this city, with L. K. Hewitt. Subsequently he assumed the entire control of the business, which he conducted successfully, enjoying the fullest confidence of the business community at home and abroad. He retired from business about five years ago.

Mr. Hewitt was three times married. His first wife was Miss Caroline Gage of Kalamazoo, by whom he had a daughter, Mrs. M. O. Robinson of this city. She died when her daughter was about four years old. Ten years