BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GEN. LAWSON ALEXANDER VAN AKIN

BY LEVI BISHOP

Read before the Wayne County Pioneer Society, May 9, 1872

Gen. Van Akin was born in 1809 in the town of Phelps, Ontario county, N. Y. His ancestors were from Holland. His father's name was John Van Akin, who served in the revolutionary war, and in the last war with England, in which he attained the rank of Captain under Gen. Van Rensselaer and others. Lawson's mother's maiden name was Margaret Westfall. Her father lived on the Delaware in Pennsylvania, and she was in the habit of relating many adventures of the Indians in the neighborhood of her father's residence, before and during the revolutionary war. Lawson received the benefit of a common school education and also of attendance one or two years at high schools. His father was a farmer and was the second settler in Phelps; and his family consisted of one daughter, and nine sons who were also brought up as farmers. Lawson left Phelps and came up the Lake in 1831 bound for Michigan, some parts of which he had explored the year before. He took passage on the old steamer Superior, and the only notable incident which occurred in coming up the lake was, that in consequence of a terrible blow the boat was compelled to lie under Point Albino on the Canada shore between three and four days; many on board were troubled with unpleasantness in the stomach. The trip from Buffalo to Detroit took about six days, being more than half the time now required to cross the Atlantic.

A noticeable feature about the little town of Detroit then was the old market which stood in Woodward avenue next south of Jefferson avenue. There were three taverns in Detroit, one of which was called the Yankee Boarding House, where Mr. Van Akin put up, and which was situated where the Franklin House now is on the corner of Bates and Larned streets. The old French church with its five steeples or tourelles as the French call them, stood where it now does, and Lawson attended services there one morning as a matter of curiosity, he never having witnessed that form of religious worship before, and he was much amused and interested therein. The preaching and in fact, the whole service was in an unknown tongue, and consequently was all Greek to the auditor in question.

Mr. Van Aken [Akin] brought a heavy wagon up the lake and having hired a yoke of oxen at Detroit for his wagon, and having loaded up his goods and chattels, with his wife and one child, he started out on the old Ann Arbor road, then running down the river to the sand hill, and from thence he went on to a country tavern kept by a certain man called Conrad Ten Eyck, sometimes called "Old Coon," about nine miles from Detroit. While at this tavern four or five gentlemen rode up and wanted a meal of victuals including fresh meat. The landlord not having any fresh meat and wishing to evade the call for it, stepped to the kitchen door, and, speaking so loud as to be heard by his guests, inquired of his wife if any of that old she-wolf was left, as some gentlemen wanted a little fresh meat, thereupon a private consultation ensued among the guests and they concluded to leave without their meal of victuals.

Mr. Van Akin proceeded on his way on what was called a road, but which was but little more than an Indian trail. The timber was heavy and the country was as yet generally uncleared. It was in the month of October, and

while the frost had 'stripped many of the trees of their verdure, there were many of them in the beauty of the golden autumn. On the way in the woods he met an old friend-William Reed, who said he was going to Detroit to see a man hung. This was Simmons, who was to be hung for killing his wife at or near the present village of Wayne. This Mr. Reed lived for several years in and about the town of Nankin, Wayne county, and he was afterwards killed in the Mexican war, where he served as a soldier.

Mr. Van Akin proceeded to Nankin and pulled up near the present village of Perrinville, and went onto a lot of 160 acres which he had bought about a mile southwesterly of the present village. The forest there was then unbroken, and he erected a shanty of poles and boards which was called a house. It was at least a shelter. It was the first erected in that vicinity, and Mr. Van Akin occupied it with his family for about a year and until he got fourteen acres cleared and a comfortable house erected. Wild game and especially deer were so plenty in that section at the time, that they would frequently come around where the men were at work; and the deer would sometimes come near the house in the evening and gaze in the windows at the light. There were also a plenty of wolves in the neighborhood, which made night hideous with their howlings. Such was pioneer life not twenty miles from Detroit, just forty years ago.

One intensely cold winter evening an Indian came into the house with his knife and tomahawk and wanted something to eat. Mrs. Van Akin was so much alarmed that she could not speak. Her husband told her it was best to get something for the unwelcome stranger to eat, which was done with remarkable alacrity. When he had taken his food the Indian took his leave and went into a swamp to the southward, very much to the amazement of the family, that any one should voluntarily go out in the night into the storm and forest without shelter and in such an inclement season.

In April of the second year after his arrival here, the stock of Mr. Van Akin consisted of a yoke of oxen, a cow and young calf. One morning before daylight he heard the calf making a most terrific noise, he sprang out of bed, ran out, and there were two wolves which had the calf down and were biting him most ferociously. Mr. Van Akin went for them, and drove them off before the calf was killed, though he was bleeding freely at the throat. The calf was taken in, cared for and saved. About a year after this a bear approached the house and made an attack on a large hog in the adjacent forest. Lawson and his brother went out with an old gun and a pitchfork and set the battle in array. The dog was sent in to begin the attack, but he no sooner came in sight of the enemy than he ran for life with his hair on end like the quills of the fretful porcupine. Bruin himself thought prudence was the better part of valor, for he took to his heels also and disappeared. The hog was the only one in the field that was hurt, but he was found badly mangled.

About 1834, Mr. Van Akin's brother lost a sow, and they went out to ascertain what had become of her. She could not be found, but near the place where she was last seen, a young bear was discovered up a tree. The brothers proposed to shoot and bring the cub down; but on consultation, it was concluded that where there was a cub there must be a dam not far off, which it might be dangerous to arouse. The parties, therefore, as they had but one gun and one charge, concluded to retreat and leave the cub on the tree alone in his glory.

For four or five years after his first arrival here, Mr. Van Akin was much engaged in raising log cabins for settlers who had recently arrived, and for others who needed them. In those early times the neighbors used to put bells on their stock and turn them loose in the morning to browse in the forest, taking note which way they went, so as to know what direction to pursue in order to find and bring them home in the evening. Sometimes they would wander away from one to three or four miles, and when they chanced to be near together, browsing, the sound of their bells in the clear air, gave out a medley of music that was peculiarly pleasant to the pioneer. If the cattle chanced to be out after dark there was danger from the wolves, which were sure to be prowling about in the neighborhood.

From the pioneer start which Mr. Van Akin and two or three others gave, that section of Wayne county has been steadily settled and improved till it has become well populated, is filled with good houses and barns, and good husbandry; is well accommodated with roads and cross-roads, including plank roads, and even railroads, with schoolhouses and churches, and till it in fact ranks among the best cultivated and most thrifty sections of the State. There are few of the yeomanry of that neighborhood who are not well-to-do in the world, and who are not in independent circumstances.

The following persons were early and contemporaneous settlers with Mr. Van Akin in Nankin and its vicinity, all of whom are dead: Marcus Swift, William Osborn, James Kipp, Isaac Perrin, Abraham Perrin, Wm. Minchley, William Brazington, Joseph Kingsley, Norton Noble, John Norris, Walter Norris, Matthew Quirck, Samuel Dimick, Thomas Dickinson, Josiah Mason, John Palmer, James Palmer, William Strait, Zachariah Strait, Rev. Gordon, Andrew L. Stevens, James Ferguson, Harcourt Ferguson, and others. The following early settlers of the same neighborhood are now (at the writing of this paper, May, 1872,) in the land of the living: James Abbot, Glode D. Chubb, John B. Wallace, Abel Patchen, Ammon Brown, Jacob Reed, Robert Reed, Adam Reed, Josiah Smith, Reuben Brown, William Smith, Barnabas C. Bunnell, John Ingraham, Benjamin Marshal, Daniel Strait, Mathias Strait, Charles Strait, Andrew Montgomery, James Stewart, Robert Stewart, John Luthers, Robert Luthers, Thomas Luthers, John Stringer, James Stringer, Franklin Stringer, William Bills, Friend Perrin, Calvin Cheney, Winchester, and others.

Mr. Van Akin, since his settlement in Nankin, has held several town offices and several military commissions of different ranks, from corporal up to brigadier general. He has been a man of industry and frugality, and now, in his decline of life, he finds himself in comfortable circumstances. NOTE.-I notice on Belden & Co.'s map of Nankin, the name is L. A. Van Aiken.-J. C. H. *

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF CHARLES CHRISTOPHER TROWBRIDGE

BY HON. JAMES V. CAMPBELL

Read June 13, 1883, at the annual meeting State Pioneer Society

I have been desired to prepare for the Pioneer Society a sketch of the life and career of Charles C. Trowbridge, who died on the 3d of April, 1883. He was, so far as I know, the oldest business resident of the State, not a native of Michigan, except the Hon. John Owen, whose coming into the Territory

*See appendix

was at about the same time or a little earlier. As a pioneer among pioneers, therefore, it would be very proper to commemorate him, had he not possessed. those stronger and surer claims to honored remembrance which attend on a pure and wise character of remarkable usefulness, and held in honor throughout the whole community.

Charles Christopher Trowbridge was born in Albany, New York, on the 29th day of December, 1800. He was the youngest of six children, and his father, Luther Trowbridge, died in February, 1802. This gentleman, who was a native of Farmingham, Mass., was, in 1775, when the revolution broke out, a law student in the office of his kinsman, Edmund Trowbridge, a judge of the court of King's Bench, and a loyalist, who was nevertheless held in such personal esteem, as not to be molested for his principles. The young man, however, was an earnest "rebel," and fought as a volunteer in the battle of Lexington. At the early age of seventeen, he received an ensign's commission in the Massachusetts line, and continued in the service until the peace, when he retired with the rank of Brevet Captain and Quartermaster. Young as he was, he was a veteran in service. He was in Arnold's expedition up the Kennebec, in the fall of 1775, and was at Saratoga when Burgoyne was defeated. He was in Sullivan's expedition that was set on foot after the massacre of Wyoming. He was stationed at West Point when Washington had his quarters there, and his wife, then a very youthful matron, recalled in after years the good humored way in which the stately general did the honors with his battered camp equipage, polished till he claimed it might pass for silver.

After the war was over, Captain Trowbridge settled at Albany, where his wife (who was Miss Elizabeth Tillman), had relatives. Here he was engaged in various enterprises, and was interested in some land purchases. He held various offices by appointment of the governor and council, and was on pleasant terms with the public men of the time. Among his personal friends were Mr. Van Rensselaer, the patroon, Elkanah Watson, Abraham Van Vechten, and Chancellor Kent. The latter, in after years, meeting the subject of this sketch, referred with interest to his old friendship, and told anecdotes of shooting expeditions on Patroon Creek, where Captain Trowbridge won credit as a marksman with a little gun with a dog's head carved on the stock, which had been given him by a French officer during his campaigns. This gun is still in the possession of the family.

Upon the father's death the children were scattered. General Selah Matthews, long known as a distinguished leader of the Rochester bar, was at that time living at Elmira, and he took into his family Stephen V. R. Trowbridge, and in due time set about preparing him for the bar. A very early marriage made him seek other means of support. In 1813 a visit with his mother to see this brother led to an important result in shaping the career of our friend. Major Horatio Ross, then living at Owego, but having considerable branch stores at Athens, in Pennsylvania, and Elmira, offered to take Charles and bring him up as a merchant. Indentures were executed accordingly, whereby, in the old fashioned phrases that had come down from the English, the lad of twelve agreed not to violate the duties of his station, and the master agreed to support and train him in business, and pay him what was a liberal compensation, increasing yearly. This excellent man was faithful to his promises, and Mr. Trowbridge owed much of his thorough business habits to the teaching of his friendly employer. The first year was

spent at Elmira. The next year he was taken into the family of Major Ross, at Owego, where he was cherished with parental tenderness. The business troubles that succeeded soon after the peace of 1815, ultimately ruined Major Ross' business, and he turned out all his assets to his creditors, who, admiring his uprightness, made over to him a considerable amount of accounts, and left him his homestead. The veteran, in his declining years, when Mr. Trowbridge, though young, was in the fair way to prosperity in Detroit, wrote cheerfully that his revolutionary pension and his moderate salary in the clerk's office at Owego supplied all his wants.

The creditors put the property into the hands of Mr. Trowbridge, who was then not quite eighteen years old, and he closed up the business. He went down the Susequehanna with salt, gypsum, and lumber, and disposed of them in Pennsylvania, and came back with the proceeds. In 1819, William A. Ely, of Owego, sent him a supercargo to Havre de Grace and Baltimore, and he returned through the country unharmed, carrying all the proceeds of his voyage in bank notes upon his person.

In after life he referred to two peculiarities in which that period differed very much from the present. One was the great responsibilities laid upon boys and young men. The other was the absence of any sense of danger in carrying money about in the country. On one occasion, when only fourteen years old, he was sent by Major Ross to Newburgh, a distance of one hundred and forty miles, on horseback, to procure the discount of a note for $4,000. He went alone, and not only brought the money, but when the note matured, traveled over the same road again with funds to meet it.

After the return from Baltimore, he was put in temporary charge of the stock in trade of Gen. Goodrich, a merchant lately deceased. But at this time he was turning his eyes to the future, and reflecting on the place where he should fix his home. He was offered by Mr. Ely a share in his business

as partner. But he preferred going westward. His first purpose was to go to New Orleans, but his friends opposed it. He was finally induced to prefer Michigan, by the favorable report of a young friend who preceded him.

Having indicated this preference, some of his friends through the intervention of Rev. John Monteith, then a missionary and teacher in Detroit, secured for him an appointment under Major Thomas Rowland, who having served meritoriously in the army during the war, had settled in Detroit, and was then United States marshal, clerk of the courts, justice of the peace, trustee of the city, and exercising many functions. Major Rowland was a gentleman of culture, of sterling character, and during his whole life much esteemed. He took Mr. Trowbridge at once into his own family, made him deputy in both his offices, and paid him as liberally as business would war

rant.

In August, 1819, Mr. Trowbridge started for his destination and went to Buffalo, having as fellow travelers for a portion of the distance, three well known Detroit merchants, Tunis S. Wendell, John Palmer, and James Byrne. Just as he left, he received by the hands of one of his former associates under Maj. Ross,-Felix Hinchman (father of our fellow-citizens, Guy and Joseph Hinchman), a very earnest letter of recommendation to all good people, signed by four of the principal citizens of Owego. This unsolicited testimonal was very cheering, and it remained among his most valued. papers at his death.

As Buffalo then had no harbor, the steamer Walk-in-the-Water, which was