Edward Peck's autobiograpy and a short history of southern Michigan

Copyright © 2000 by Bryan Taylor. This copy contributed for use in 
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BY HON. EDWARD W. PECK, OF PONTIAC


I was at the annual meeting of your society in June, 1886, and became a 
member. I listened with pleasure to the remarks of the members, the history 
of their experiences, their labor, trials, disappointments, and, as well, 
their successes. During your sessions, your then president extended an 
invitation to the members to write up and forward to the secretary any 
incidents of their personal history, or of the locality where they first 
settled in the state, or any other matters of history, either of local or 
general interest. I signed my name to a paper accepting the invitation of 
the president, without a moment's consideration, and probably unwisely; but 
now I think you will have to bear the infliction, and that you may take 
comfort and consolation in the thought that the invitation will not be 
repeated.

First, I must give you a few words of personal history. I am a descendant 
of William Peck, who was born in London, England, in 1601, and with his 
wife, and son Jeremiah came to America in 1637, settling in New Haven, 
Connecticut. The descendants of said William, brought down to 1877, the 
date of the publication of his book, numbered nearly 3,000, and are 
scattered over the United States, and some in foreign countries.


My grandfather with six sons and four daughters, emigrated from Lyme, 
Connecticut, and settled in West Bloomfield, Ontario county, New York, in 
1800. I was born March 19, 1807, and being the oldest son of the family, 
was early initiated into the mysteries and labors of farming. The labors of 
the farmer at that early day were vastly more severe than at the present. 
We had none of the labor saving machinery now in use. The mower, the reaper 
and binder, the cultivators, the threshing machine, were not then known, 
and the tools and implements of husbandry were of the roughest[p.152] kind, 
and it is doubtful if any of the pioneers of the present day, have followed 
the wooden plow, which had a small point of iron or steel, or have threshed 
their wheat and other grain with a flail, and cleaned it in the wind.


My education was such as could be acquired in the common district school 
and commenced in the little log school house on the corner, with slab 
benches for the scholars to sit on, and a cross legged table for the use of 
the school mistress. The school books in general use were Webster's 
spelling book, the English reader, Lindley Murray's English grammar, 
Daboll's arithmetic, and Morse's geography; and the books were not changed, 
as is the modern custom, in the interest of the book makers, but not 
unfrequently lasted through the family. Continuing to work on my father's 
farm until I was twenty one, he then having sufficient help from younger 
brothers, I hired out for two seasons to neighboring farmers for thirteen 
dollars a month, and taught district schools for two winters at thirteen 
and fifteen dollars a month.


In May, 1830, in company with some friends, I came to Michigan on a tour of 
observation. We spent some weeks in Detroit, in Washtenaw and Oakland 
counties, and at Pontiac, then a small town with fair prospects. We 
returned to Detroit and waited several days for the arrival of the 
steamboat, Henry Clay (which was thought to be a marvel), in order to take 
passage to Buffalo. The population of Michigan according to the United 
States census of that year was 31,649, and of Detroit, 2,200. The Detroit 
and Saginaw turnpike was then in course of construction, six or seven miles 
having been completed, by laying the logs across the road, and partially 
covering them with earth, and many of us know what sort of a road we had.


I returned home and worked on my father's farm until Oct. 1, 1831, when 
having decided to become a citizen of Michigan, I left my native town and 
came to Michigan, expecting to attack the forest. I was the owner of some 
timbered land in Washtenaw county. I had some axes secured in the bottom of 
my chest, which contained my clothing suitable for farmers' use. Coming up 
Lake Erie on a steamboat, my purpose was changed, and I settled in Troy, 
Oakland county, and engaged in merchandising, which business I continued 
for some sixteen years. Troy was one of the earliest settled towns in 
Oakland county, in the east and southeast part of Oakland county adjoining 
Macomb county on the east. The first land bought in the township was Feb. 
12, 1819, under the two dollar act, and from that date up to 1830, the 
lands were rapidly taken under the ten shilling act, and at that date a 
large proportion, probably three fourths of the whole was taken, and on 
February 17, 1836, the last description in the township was taken.


The pioneer society of Oakland county has on its records the names of those 
making the entries, the date of entries, and the descriptions of all 
the[p.153] lands in the township, a valuable paper, obtained at the United 
States land office at Detroit, by the Hon. vice president, O. Poppletion, 
and from the same paper I have gathered some thoughts, facts and statistics 
which I am at liberty to use. The rapidity with which the lands in Troy 
were taken is remarkable, when we take this fact into consideration, that 
they were nearly all heavily timbered with oak, some beech and maple, white 
wood, black walnut, hickory and many other varieties, requiring not only 
physical strength, but perseverance, indomitable courage and energy. To the 
character of the early pioneer, does the township of Troy owe her 
unparalleled development and the prosperity which gave her rank with the 
first townships in the county. Most of the early settlers were from the 
pioneer families of western New York, and were well fitted by discipline 
and experience to enter upon a new life in the forests of the township. It 
required a strong will, energy and physical power to fell the heavy timber 
that encumbered the land, to clear and fence it, to erect their log houses 
and barns, improve their lands, build their roads and bridges, yet they 
were equal to the occasion, and well did they perform the task, and I may 
venture the remark that there are no more beautiful farms, farm houses and 
landscapes in the state and while I would not unduly exalt the character of 
the early settlers of Troy and thereby by inference detract from the just 
praise due those of other localities, I will say that they were in 
everything that helps to make up a first class community, far above the 
average of those usually settling in new countries.


I shall be allowed to extend my remarks to cover more ground than the 
township of Troy, where I first settled, or the county of Oakland where I 
have been a resident for more than fifty five years. I would like to take a 
wider range and give a few thoughts in regard to the admission of our state 
into the union. I am aware that much has been said on the subject, and at 
the semi-centennial last June, there were additions to that history, but I 
will hazard the opinion, that some facts in relation to our admission have 
not been well understood, and if ever understood will bear a repetition or 
emphasizing. It is with the view of placing upon the records of this "State 
Pioneer Society" some additional facts, trials and incidents, without which 
the true history of our admission would be in my opinion quite incomplete, 
that I refer to the subject. About the year 1834 the pioneers (we were all 
pioneers then), perhaps I should say the politicians, became ambitious to 
become a state, and as the ordinance of 1787, the charter of our rights, 
authorized Michigan when she had a population of 60,000 free inhabitants to 
become a state, and having by a census of the territory found that we had a 
population of 87,000 and over, and so declared by the legislative council 
of the territory, early in 1835 the legislative council passed an act 
providing for a convention to be held in May of that


20[p.154] year. Delegates were accordingly elected and met in Detroit, and 
numbered 89, and continued in session until June 24, when having completed 
their labors by adopting a constitution, the same was submitted to the 
people in the fall of that year, and adopted by the people with little 
opposition. The southern boundary of the state was in accord with the 
ordinance of 1787, being an east and west line drawn through the southerly 
extreme of Lake Michigan until it intersected Lake Erie. As early as 1802 
congress passed an act to enable the people of Ohio to organize a state 
government, in which it is declared that the northern boundary should be 
established by an east and west line drawn through the southerly extreme of 
Lake Michigan until it intersected Lake Erie and thence through Lake Erie 
to the Pennsylvania line.


Ohio, in framing her constitution, adopted this line with a variation, so 
as to include the site of Toledo; the constitution was referred to a 
committee in congress who reported that it was not necessary or expedient 
to act upon it at all, and thus it remained until 1805, when congress 
passed an act in accordance with the ordinance of 1787 to divide what was 
known as the Indian Territory into separate governments, erected Michigan 
into a separate territory, defining her southern boundary to be a line 
drawn east from the southerly bend of Lake Michigan until it intersects 
Lake Erie. This left the strip of land that Ohio wanted within the 
boundaries of Michigan, and it was conclusive of the justice of her claims; 
and right here I may properly refer to the extreme selfishness of the great 
state of Ohio. She had a front on Lake Erie of one hundred and fifty or two 
hundred miles, with at least half a dozen ports of entry on the lake, and 
did not need Toledo. Michigan had only one Toledo, and might most 
reasonably have expected to enjoy her own in peace, but this would not 
satisfy the greed of Ohio; Toledo she would have, and having failed to show 
any legal or equitable right to it, she would take it by the strong arm of 
her boasted "million of freemen."


Early in 1835 the legislature of Ohio passed an act extending the 
jurisdiction of the state over the tract which she wanted. Gov. Mason, of 
Michigan, ever watchful of her interests, called the legislative council 
together, and on February 12, 1835, the council passed an act making it a 
criminal offense for any person to attempt to exercise any official act, 
duty or office within the jurisdiction of Michigan, under any authority not 
derived from Michigan or the United States. The governor of Ohio still 
persisting in his determination to rob Michigan of her vested rights, 
called out a volunteer force of 600 men, and proceeded with his 
commissioners to Perrysburg, near the line, with the avowed purpose of 
surveying and marking the line of the tract he proposed to take. Gov. Mason 
of Michigan having watched the action of the governor of Ohio, was not in 
the least inclined to submit to be shorn of our[p.155] territory, and the 
pioneers, generally, sympathized with the governor. War seemed inevitable, 
and in the emergency our ambitious, young and patriotic governor called out 
the military to the number of twelve to fifteen hundred. Oakland county had 
a regiment of riflemen, in which I held a commission, and some small 
companies of cavalry, and the ununiformed troops were drafted. Our regiment 
was called to Pontiac by the proper officers for organization, and having 
effected that object we were ordered to rendezvous at Plymouth for further 
organization on a given day, and on the day named we left our wives and 
little ones to engage in a struggle for our rights. There were some 
incidents of that campaign which I take the liberty of presenting.


After leaving Plymouth, having completed our organization, we proceeded 
immediately on our way to the seat of war at Toledo, and by a forced march 
on a sultry day in September, we reached the River Raisin, a few miles 
above Monroe, on Saturday evening. A large and commodious farm house, with 
large and convenient barns and other buildings, promised comfortable 
protection and shelter for the troops. That evening before it was quite 
dark, an uproar was raised; the owner of the premises missed a fine hive of 
honey, but the pursuit of the thieves was so prompt that the honey was 
found on the grass near the river, and the empty hive in the river. The man 
who carried the hive upon his shoulder, found that the bees were quite as 
unwilling as the Michigan men to be robbed of their rightful property, and 
resented it by stinging him upon his neck so powerfully as to paralyze him. 
In this emergency the boys were in a strait what to do, and avoid 
detection, but one, more suggestive than the rest, proposed to apply mud 
from the clay bank of the river, which had a good effect, and he recovered. 
There was plenty of honey in the house that night, and General 
[Charles C.] Hascall, the senior officer, partook of it so 
freely, that at an early hour the next morning I saw him bending over the 
fence in the rear of the house, with positive indications that he had taken 
more honey than he could carry. A court martial was ordered in the morning, 
to which all the commissioned officers were invited, but no witnesses could 
be found that knew anything about it, and the court martial adjourned, 
subject to the call of the president, but nothing was heard of it 
afterward.


The troops marched on to Monroe that Sabbath morning. The officers obtained 
quarters in a large room in a hotel, and the men in the court house. About 
midnight a messenger from General [Joseph W.] Brown, who was in 
command of the forces at Toledo, was announced, and coming into the room 
where the officers were sleeping, the dispatch of General Brown was read, 
requiring the troops to proceed to headquarters immediately, and ending 
with the announcement, "The enemy are in force." Early in the morning 
steamboats[p.156] were procured and the footmen embarked, the cavalry 
companies going across the country on horseback. On nearing Toledo, 
steaming up the Maumee, it was found that the men had loaded their rifles 
with powder and ball without any authority, and entirely without the 
knowledge of the officers, it manifestly being the expectation of the men 
that there was to be fighting, and I am sure it was wise in Governor Lucas 
to keep his men on their own side of the line. Approaching the landing, no 
resistance being offered, we landed and remained two or three days. No 
enemy appearing we were reviewed by Gov. Mason. "The boys" became experts 
in drawing rations of vegetables from Stickney's garden, who had rendered 
himself obnoxious to Michigan men. There being nothing further to do there, 
the whole army was ordered back to Monroe, and there on a beautiful 
September day, in a splendid field for the display, the army was massed 
into a hollow square, Gov. Mason rode in, accompanied by his aids, and 
throwing his chapeau upon the ground eloquently commended the troops for 
their soldierly bearing, and most emphatically expressed his unalterable 
determination to spill the last drop of blood in his veins, if need be, in 
defending the rights of Michigan in the boundary question. There being no 
hostile force to oppose, the troops were ordered to return to their homes, 
and to remain under arms for thirty days. Gov. Lucas, of Ohio, disbanded 
his troops, being advised by embassadors from Washington that serious 
consequences might result to him and the state, if he made any further 
attempt to take possession of the line Ohio wanted, by force, and that in 
the judgment of the United States attorney general, the action of the state 
of Ohio was in conflict with the law of congress of 1805, and that the 
action of the legislative council of Michigan, which was being enforced by 
Gov. Mason, was clearly legal. Perhaps we of Michigan ought to have a 
little sympathy for the great state of Ohio, in view of all her trials and 
disappointments in her efforts to obtain the coveted Toledo. For more than 
thirty years her efforts had been persistently continued, with failure 
every time, while the apparent odds were largely in her favor, so far as 
numbers were concerned, as she had nineteen voting members of congress, 
while Michigan had none. In the first effort she sought to smuggle in the 
coveted Toledo, by stretching her state line over it, contrary to the act 
of Congress of 1802. She might with equal propriety have taken in Detroit, 
but failing in her numerous efforts down to 1835, she would now strangle 
the infant Michigan with her "million of freemen." But here again she was 
disastrously defeated. The United States government at Washington, told her 
very distinctly to keep hands off, not to attempt to take the place wanted 
by force, and now the humiliating alternative was presented.[p.157] She 
must obtain the consent of Michigan to be robbed, before she could obtain 
the prize. Did she obtain that consent? We shall see.


On the 15th day of June, 1836, congress passed an act, entitled an "act to 
establish the northern boundary of the state of Ohio, and to provide for 
the admission of the state of Michigan into the union, upon the conditions 
therein expressed;" section one gives the northern boundary line of the 
state of Ohio as she wanted it. Section 2, "and be it further enacted, that 
the constitution and state government, which the people of Michigan have 
formed for themselves be, and the same is hereby accepted, ratified and 
confirmed, and that the said state of Michigan shall be, and is hereby 
declared to be one of the United States of America, and is hereby admitted 
into the union upon an equal footing with the original states, in all 
respects whatsoever;" provides always, and here congress inserted a 
provision extending the boundaries of the state of Michigan, to include an 
additional tract of land in the upper peninsula, contrary to the 
constitution of the state which had been adopted by the people of the 
state, and accepted and ratified and confirmed by congress, and further 
enacted, that as a compliance with the fundamental condition of admission 
contained in the last preceding section of this act, the boundaries of the 
said state of Michigan, as in said section described, shall receive the 
assent of a convention of delegates, elected by the people of said state, 
for the sole purpose of giving the assent herein required. In accordance 
with the foregoing the governor of Michigan immediately called the 
legislature together to provide for the election and to apportion the 
delegates among the several counties of the state according to population, 
as follows: giving to Wayne county eight, Monroe four, Lenawee four, 
Washtenaw and Livingston seven, Oakland six, Cass and St. Joseph each two, 
Kalamazoo two, St. Clair one, Berrien one, Calhoun one, Jackson one, Macomb 
three, Branch one, Hillsdale one, Lapeer one, Saginaw, Genesee and 
Shiawassee one, Mackinaw one, Chippewa one, Ottawa, Kent, Ionia and Clinton 
one, Barry one. In accordance with the above the delegates were duly 
elected and certified and met at Ann Arbor on the 4th Monday of September, 
1836, and organized by the election of the Hon. William Draper, of Oakland 
county, as president. The convention consisted of 49 members, and the 
question before the convention was at once introduced, and duly considered.


I was a member of the convention from the county of Oakland, and was in 
constant attendance at all its sessions and know of what I affirm. There 
was not in the convention a thought expressed in regard to what the Hon. 
ex-Judge Cooley calls the "compromise proposition," that Michigan received 
for all that was taken from her on the southern boundary, more than 
princely compensation. I challenge the correctness of that statement. In a 
recent[p.158] conversation with an ex-member of Congress from this 
district, and who has served the people of the state in the legislature and 
on the bench, and has resided in the state more than fifty years, and is as 
well qualified to judge of values as any man in it, he says of the upper 
peninsula at the time it was tendered us, "it wasn't worth eighteen pence." 
Another gentleman of more than fifty years' residence here, says of it 
to-day to me, it was "not worth a dollar." I would modestly give my opinion 
that the upper peninsula, comparatively speaking, was worthless. I will 
call one more witness, that the erroneous idea may never be brought forth 
again, that Michigan received "more than princely compensation for what was 
taken from her." The veteran Governor Felch, in his address at the 
semi-centennial says, "Of the upper peninsula, nothing was known and 
nothing expected from it." Additional evidence on the same point might be 
offered to an unlimited extent, but it has seemed quite unnecessary. That 
the upper peninsula by its developments and openings during the past fifty 
years has now become valuable, is not to be taken and regarded as evidence 
of "more than princely compensation" for the port of Toledo; nor as 
evidence of the liberality of congress, or Ohio, to Michigan. Congress 
probably thought, here is Wisconsin, she has no vote here, but is anxiously 
waiting for admission; we will take from her what is not known or regarded 
of any value and give it to Michigan; those additional acres may possibly 
appease the just wrath of Michigan, in view of the robbery we contemplate 
of her, and all will be lovely, and this was probably the sharp practice 
spoken of by Judge Cooley.


I copy from the journal of the proceedings of the convention the official 
result of its action, which was just and wise, and ought to have been 
final. The record of the proceedings of the convention was certified to by 
the Hon. William Draper, president, and Charles A. Jeffries and Samuel York 
AtLee, secretaries.


" Whereas , The congress of the United States by an act entitled an act to 
establish the northern boundary of the state of Ohio, and to provide for 
the admission of the state of Michigan into the union, upon the conditions 
therein expressed, approved June 15, 1836, did enact and declare that the 
constitution and state government, which the people of Michigan have formed 
for themselves, be, and the same is hereby accepted, ratified and 
confirmed, and that the said state of Michigan shall be, and is hereby 
declared to be one of the United States of America, and is hereby admitted 
into the union, upon an equal footing with the original states in all 
respects whatsoever, thereby acknowledging our constitution as republican, 
and in accordance with the constitution of the United States, and the 
ordinance of 1787, and whereas congress has also in said act inserted a 
proviso proposing a radical alteration of our southern and southeastern 
boundary, secured to us by articles of compact contained in the ordinance 
of 1787, and which, if acceded to by the people of Michigan, would deprive 
us of all jurisdiction over the waters of Lake Erie, and gratuitously 
bestowed on Ohio the exclusive jurisdiction[p.159] on the waters of said 
lake, from the Pennsylvania line to the mouth of the Detroit river, a gift, 
the extent of which, we believe, neither congress nor the state of Ohio 
fully comprehended, and have required the people of this state to give 
their assent to the aforesaid change of boundaries, by a convention of 
delegates to be by them elected:


And Whereas , This convention, taking into consideration the just rights of 
Michigan, as respects her southern and southeastern boundary, and also her 
constitution, embracing that part of our territory claimed by Ohio, and 
believing that the assent required by the said proviso cannot be given by 
us without a palpable violation of our constitution, which provides the 
only way in which it can be amended, and over which this convention has no 
control, without a sacrifice of our rights and interests, and without 
committing an act of self degradation.


Therefore Resolved, That this convention cannot give their assent to the 
proposition contained in said proviso, but the same is hereby rejected by a 
vote of 28 to 21."





I find by examination of the records of Oakland, that at the election of 
delegates to the September convention, 2,200 votes were given, and for 
delegates to the December gathering, only 570 voters took part, and from 
personal knowledge, and the best information I have been able to obtain, 
but a small minority of all the voters took part, not over twenty five per 
cent, I am sure, and yet these delegates assumed to accept the changed 
boundaries of the state. The proceedings of the meeting were at once 
forwarded to Washington, although I have not found any record of their 
action here at home, Judge Cooley says the authorities at Washington 
pretended to be satisfied with this, and declared the state admitted to the 
union with its present boundaries. Col. A. T. McReynolds, in his address at 
the semi-centennial, says, "It should be remembered in this connection, 
that Ohio was at the time an administration


Note:


* See appendix[p.160] state, with nineteen voting members on the floor 
of the house, while Michigan had not one." It is possible that this fact 
may account for the prompt action of congress in the admission of Michigan, 
on the assumption of delegates claiming to represent Michigan, yet without 
any proper authority. I believe I have shown to the satisfaction of the 
pioneers, that Michigan was admitted into the union on the false pretense 
by congress that they were satisfied, and the further fact that Michigan 
never gave the assent required by the act of congress of June 15, 1836. 
These two important facts make a prominent item in the history of Michigan.


Some one may say, admitting your statement to be correct, what are we going 
to do about it? To which I answer, nothing whatever. I have given the 
facts; let congress and Ohio have all the credit of the transaction. We are 
recognized as in the union, and, while our coming in was such an outrage as 
was never perpetrated on any other infant state, we may indulge the hope 
that if any of the members of congress are still living, who exacted of 
Michigan so illegal and unreasonable conditions for our admission, will, 
ere they cross the river, repent in sackcloth and ashes.


A few words in conclusion in a more cheerful strain. The birth of Michigan 
was after prolonged labor, and surmounting many obstacles, but we have 
passed safely through them, or around them, and through the tender years of 
infancy, and of childhood and youth, and many years since arrived at 
stalwart manhood. Within the recollection of some of us (in 1830) the 
population of Michigan was 31,649, and now in 1887 it is two millions or 
over and the developments and improvements of the fifty years since our 
admission to the union, have been at least equal, if not greater in all 
departments than that of the increase in population; and the resources have 
become more varied than those of any other state in the union, and more 
than abundant in quantity. Our resources in lumber, salt, iron, copper, 
silver and gold, plaster and coal in great abundance, added to this an 
eminently fertile soil, producing to the agriculturist princely returns for 
all his labor, and producing, also, all the delicious fruits of this 
latitude, in their variety and abundantly; with a healthful climate, 
surrounded by navigable waters, rendering transportation of productions to 
market cheap and promptly reached, give us facilities not enjoyed by more 
inland states. I must not omit to mention the educational interests of 
Michigan in which she is pre-eminent; her university, her colleges, 
theological, literary, and agricultural, her normal and high schools, her 
provision for the unfortunate, the blind, deaf, dumb, and insane, her 
reformatory system for all classes, justly entitle her to commendation.


Fifty or sixty years ago, and within the recollection, and during the 
residence[p.161] here of some of us, Michigan was largely dependent on Ohio 
for provisions, for beef, pork, flour, butter, etc., but now and for many 
years, that state of dependence has been changed for one of independence. 
Now Ohio is dependent on Michigan for her lumber supply; her home supply 
for salt having failed, she is obliged to come to Michigan for her supply 
of that very necessary article, and the same is true of Indiana, who was 
interested with Ohio in robbing us when we were in embryo. In view then, of 
our advantages as briefly alluded to, our extended and abundant resources, 
the rapid growth of our state in population, and in all the elements of 
prosperity, and permanent improvements, our freedom as a state from debt, 
and enjoying so largely the blessings which our beneficent Creator has 
lavished upon us, may we not cherish a just pride in the reflection that we 
are citizens and pioneers of so noble and prosperous a state.