Early life in the Town of Indian Fields, Tuscola County, Michigan

Copyright © 1998 by Bonnie Petee. This copy contributed for use in 
the USGenWeb Archives.  

 

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Taken from The History of Tuscola County,Biographical Sketches and Illustrations, 
H. R. Page Co., Chicago, 1883. Thanks to Bonnie Petee.

A BIT OF EXPERIENCE

Some experiences of the late Daniel D. Dopking and wife illustrate life in the early 
days, which for several years was lonely beyond description. Their nearest neighbor 
was Isaac Crane, nearly two miles distant.  The improvement of new farms required too 
much hard labor to allow of much recreation, and neighborly visits were not frequent, 
unless it was necessary to borrow some groceries to last until a trip could be made to 
Vassar.  Christmas and New Year's were seasons of enjoyment, and upon such occasions 
those who lived many miles apart would unite in the homely festivities.

Qwing to the lack of fences, farmers had to "bell" their cattle when they were turned 
loose, and in buying a "sounder" a farmer endeavored to get one as unlike in tone to 
that of his neighbor as possible.  In the summer of 1854 Mr. Dopking lost track of his 
oxen, and in hunting for them he was misled by the bell on an ox belonging to Curtis 
Emerson, of East Saginaw, who was then lumbering on the Cass River.  After much 
tramping, however, Mr. Dopking found his cattle, and started for home, as he supposed.  
In the course of an hour he realized he was lost, and hallooing brought no response 
from home.  His oxen finally grew tired and refused to go any further, so he tied them 
to a tree with beech withes, and lay down to go to sleep.  None of the wild animals 
then so numerous disturbed his slumbers and when morning broke he started on a 
prospecting tour.  He stuck a road leading somewhere, and as it was blazed a little 
above breast high (the usual height for section line blazes) he knew that travel on it 
would bring him to some point for whence he could reach home.  Accordingly he untied 
his cattle and traveled on this road until he struck the Indian Fields and Sebewaing 
trail.  Here a new difficulty presented itself:  which way should he go?  It was a 
knotty question to decide, but finally he started toward Sebewaing and traveled some 
distance; after going far enough, as he thought, to reach some point that would 
indicate his whereabouts, he made up his mind that he was on the wrong track, and 
consequently retraced his steps along the trail.  He finally struck a small clearing 
that now forms part of the county poor farm, and then he knew where he was, as a lumber
road led from this point direct to Wahjamega.  He arrived home about 11 o'clock in the 
forenoon, having been absent from home all the previous day, and found his wife in a 
state of anxiety bordering on distraction.  All through the long night the poor woman 
had kept her lonely vigil, every half hour or so blowing a mammoth tin horn, in hopes 
that her husband would hear its sounds and thus be guided home.  Occasionally she 
would imagine that she could hear the ox bell, but the hope thus raised died out in 
despair when Mr. Dopking did not make his appearance.  Her greatest fear was that some 
wild beast had made him its prey, and that no trace of him would ever be discovered.  
The nearest house was a mile and half, and a night walk of that distance through woods 
infested with wild beasts was not at all desirable.  So the night wore away and morning 
dawned without a sight of him who was so near and dear to her, and the forenoon passed 
as did the night.  About 11 o'clock the welcome and familiar sound of the bell apprised 
her of the approach of the cattle, and on looking out she beheld her husband coming up 
the road.  The strain on her nerves for the twenty-four hours had been so great that 
the reaction from fear thoroughly prostrated her and rendered her as feeble as a babe 
in arms, and it was hours before she completely recovered self-possession.








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