Reverend Samuel Doak

 

Always an eager and skillful questioner, Mrs. McCormick undoubtedly brought out the highlights of Tusculum's history: how the Rev. Samuel Doak, a Presbyterian clergyman and a Princeton scholar, had penetrated into this lovely valley in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, built a log cabin to house the modest beginnings of Martin Academy, which by 1795 had become Washington College; how after preaching and teaching the classics there for twenty-three years, he had come fourteen miles farther along the valley to set up another academy, which in time became Tusculum College. Again the combination church and school was a log cabin. 

The buildings stood on a hill commanding a beautiful mountain view and overlooking town, valley, two rivers — the Watauga and the Doe. 

Whoever wrote to Mrs. McCormick of this fair region always mentioned the historic sycamore near the fords of the Watauga, where the Reverend Samuel Doak had prayed for the doughty mountaineers who were to turn the tide of the Revolution at King's Mountain. [Source]

Baptisms And The Beginnings Of Notre Dame

Entries in the book, Chicago's true founder, Thomas J. V. Owen... (text version here):

Father Badin doubtless showed Indian Agent Owen his entries made for Chicago baptisms in the famous record book, which was supposed to have been lost or destroyed for the past seventy-five years. It is now preserved in the archives of Notre Dame University. Permission was given by Very Rev. James A. Burns, C.S.C., Provincial of the Congregation of Holy Cross, to quote the following: 

"Father Badin was the first Catholic priest ordained in the United States. The ceremony was performed by Archbishop Carroll on May 23, 1793, at the Sulpician seminary in Baltimore. When Indian Agent Owen visited Governor Cass at Detroit in July, 1831, the priest had been just one year in the Chicago Indian agency. Enroute for home by way of Niles, Mr. Owen met Father Badin, and discussed with him, as the official director of the government Indian school, the educational affairs of his Indian charges. And at this visit a momentous enterprise was planned."

"...the founder of municipal Chicago with the first Catholic priest ordained in the United States germinated the idea of Notre Dame University — a Catholic college in the Chicago Indian agency."

Booker T. Washington's Idea Of Teaching And Sacrificing

Booker T. Washington (Source)

Source

Also referenced was The Black man's burden, by Holtzclaw, William Henry...with an introduction by Booker T. Washington.

Source (William Henry Holtzclaw)

An Army Wife On The Frontier (Met Her Future Husband)

An Army Wife On The Frontier: the memoirs of Alice Blackwood Baldwin 1867-1877:

A Diplomat From Jonesville

"The Political Career of William Walton Murphy...".

Jonesville, Michigan, On The Map [Source]

Source

Appointed By President Lincoln

From the Michigan Historical Collections:

McGill University

Montreal and Vicinity ...,  By N. M. Hinshelwood:

"McGill University derives a splendid revenue from the many magnificent gifts and bequests that have from time to time supplemented the original legacy of James McGill. Although the charter was granted in 1821, it was not until 1829 that the university was formally opened."

Study God's Word In The Morning

"My practice was this: I devoted the forenoon of every day, except Monday, to the preparation of my discourses. My motto was: 'Study God's Word in the morning, and door-plates in the afternoon.' I found the physical exercise in itself a benefit, and the spiritual benefits were ten-fold more." 

 Recollections of a Long Life  An Autobiography, by Theodore Ledyard Cuyler.

Source

"Washington Irving has somewhere said that it is a happy thing to have been born near some noble mountain or attractive river or lake, which should be a landmark through all the journey of life, and to which we could tether our memory. I have always been thankful that the place of my nativity was the beautiful village of Aurora, on the shores of the Cayuga Lake in Western New York. My great-grandfather, General Benjamin Ledyard, was one of its first settlers, and came there in 1794."

"During the summer of 1840, when I was a college student at Princeton, I went with a friend to the office of the Log Cabin, a Whig campaign newspaper then published in Nassau Street, New York. It was during the famous Tippecanoe campaign, which resulted in the election of General Harrison. I was introduced to a singular looking man in rustic dress. Horace Greeley, for it was he, who sat before me, has been often described as a man with the 'face of an angel, and the walk of a clod-hopper."'

One of the number [of young ladies in church] happened to be a young lady from Ohio who had just graduated from the Granville College, in that State, and had come East to visit her relatives in Philadelphia. The young lady just mentioned was Miss Annie E. Mathiot... .  My courtship was rather "at long range;" for Newark, Ohio, was several hundred miles away, and I have always found that a man who would build up a strong church must be constantly at it, trowel in hand.

Vernors In The 1855-56 Detroit City Directory

The Detroit city directory and advertising gazetteer of Michigan for 1855-56, By James Dale Johnston:

The name Vernor was chosen because it's the 150th anniversary of the soft drink, Vernor's Ginger Ale:

See the Vernor connection to the Richmond family here.

Mary Vernor married Benjamin Barton Richmond, son of Horace & Eliza (Waldron) Richmond. Her brother, James Vernor, was the druggist who invented Vernor’s Ginger Ale.

Young Patullo

Source (Oxford University)

A review of Young Patullo (a young man who attended Oxford) can be found on this blog (PurseWarden).  Patillo is a family ancestral name of interest in Scotland and the United States.

The Anatomy Of A Detective Story

Source

"There will be the greatest diversity of detail, but the essential pattern will not differ materially in the novels of this class, because they all have a detective for the central figure and it is their business to tell how he solved the problem presented by a certain crime or group of crimes."

"That, in fact, is the definition of a detective story...".

The Return of Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes was one of the fictional detectives mentioned in the article above.

Butternuts And Maple Sugar

Source: Digital Library At McGill University

Butternuts and Maple Sugar : some history of the old 14th of Lancaster Township, Glengarry County, Ontario (5th concession Lochiel) Dalkeith, Ontario: E. MacMillan, 1983.

"For the present purpose, our interest centres on the 5th Concession of Lochiel which originally was the 14th Concession of Lancaster and is still frequently referred to as the 14th."

Glengarry County from a Wiki at FamilySearch:

"Glengarry is located on the southeastern boundary of the province of Ontario. It stretches for twenty miles along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. Its original two (now four) townships reach twenty-two miles inland, taking in fertile lowlands, gentle hills, and the stone-covered fields seemingly beloved by Highland farmers everywhere."

James Nelson Barker, Artillerist And Playwright

Source

The Indian Princess... was written by author James Nelson Barker (1784-1858).  At the outbreak of the War of 1812, he received a commission, fighting mostly on the Canadian frontier, and winning distinction as a Captain of Artillery.

An excerpt from the play:

THE INDIAN PRINCESS
 ACT I.

 SCENE I.

Powhatan River; wild and picturesque. Ships appear. Barges approach the shore, from which land SMITH, ROLFE, PERCY, WALTER, LARRY, ROBIN, ALICE, &c.

Chorus.
 Jolly comrades, raise the glee,
 Chorus it right cheerily; For the tempest's roar is heard no more,
And gaily we tread the wish'd-for shore:
 Then raise the glee merrily, Chorus it cheerily,
For past are the perils of the blust'ring sea.

From the Theatre History website (link deliberately not included; may have a problem - link added to text was not from the Theatre History site):

James Nelson Barker...was mayor of Philadelphia in 1820. All his plays are on native themes. .... "The Indian Princess," the first of many plays having the Indian maiden Pocahontas for heroine, was produced at the Chestnut Street Theatre April 6, 1808.

Among the manuscripts in the Arthur C. Bining Collection at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania:

There are also folders of papers from individuals that are not associated with the Customs House, such as army officer James Barker, painter Abbott H. Thayer, and inventor August F. W. Partz.

More about James Nelson Barker's War of 1812 service from the Pennsylvania Center at PSU:

As a precautionary protection measure for Philadelphia in the War of 1812, Fort Mifflin was once again actively manned. Captain James Nelson Barker was appointed commander of the fort on July 16, 1812. Although the fort was prepared to defend Philadelphia, it saw no action during the War of 1812.

Renowned Heroine Mary Musgrove

Source

A passage about Mary Musgrove (who was featured in the novel, Horse-Shoe Robinson) from King's Mountain and Its Heroes:...:

Background of the author of Horse-Shoe Robinson, John Pendleton Kennedy, 1795-1870, and his novel, can be found here in Documenting The American South (University of North Carolina):

"Kennedy's...second and most successful novel, Horse-Shoe Robinson: A Tale of the Tory Ascendancy (1835), is an historical romance set during the American Revolution."

"...Horse-Shoe Robinson, a work of historical fiction, depicts the severity of southern colonial life at the end of the American Revolution. The novel follows the travels of Major Arthur Butler and Sergeant Galbraith "Horse-Shoe" Robinson as they head south from Virginia to help the Continental Army's General Clark reclaim military outposts at Ninety-Six and Augusta."

"Adair, a former friend to Robinson and the Continental Cause, had recently been bribed by Tories to deliver his friend and Butler into their possession. Although Adair's niece, Mary Musgrove, hears of the plotted ambush and tries to warn Butler in his sleep, the two men find themselves the captives of several Tory ruffians the next day."

Michigan Timber

Timber by Harold Titus.

An explanation of the impact of the novel "Timber," was found in the Traverse City Record-Eagle newspaper in an article published July 21, 2009, by Loraine Anderson:

"Sometimes it takes a gripping novel to change things."

"For Michigan's environmental ruin following the lumber era, that book was "Timber," written by Traverse City native son Harold Titus."

An account of my lumberman ancestor:

Duncan Cameron - Lumberjack

From the Saginaw [Mich] Evening News published October 26, 1887:

Lumber News -- October 26, 1887, Page 2
Deep River [Arenac Co.] - Oct. 26
Duncan Cameron, the old and well-known jobber of Roscommon, will lumber south of that place this winter, banking 3,000,000 feet of logs on the Michigan Central for the Ducey Lumber Company.

Henry Hamilton's Background

From Henry Hamilton and George Rogers Clark in the American Revolution, with the unpublished Journal of Henry Hamilton:

Source

First, he was a descendant of a noble Scottish family with a record of service in government and in the army which dates back to the time of Mary Queen of Scots. Secondly, he was an army man in the French and
Indian War.... . He was also an office-holder, for he served first as lieutenant-governor of Detroit and then of Quebec, and as governor of Bermuda and finally of Dominica.

If his family is traced back to the fifteenth century, a Sir James Hamilton is found, who was the husband of Mary, a sister of James III of Scotland and a great-great-aunt of Mary Queen of Scots.

The educational opportunities offered to Henry were those which might be expected in a family such as his. He wrote that his mother encouraged him to read works of travel, history, and literature; that a French teacher corrected his pronunciation; and that he spent his vacations in learning to fence, draw, and dance.
In school he was often flogged, and, although he was frank enough to say that he always deserved the punishment, he decided to join the forces rather than submit to continued embarrassment.

His army life began at the age of twenty-one when he received a commission as an ensign in the Fifteenth Regiment of Foot. As a young officer he traveled over Ireland, Wales, and England, and a little later in Canada and the American Colonies.


Harvard University holds some of Henry Hamilton's papers.

"Hamilton married Elizabeth Lee... . They had only one child, Mary Anne Pierpoint Hamilton, who died unmarried on 1871 Dec. 12. Hamilton died in 1796 at Antigua while still holding office."

Up From Slavery...

....An autobiography by Booker T. Washington.

Booker T. Washington's Home Office

Alexander Harrow's Journal

Present Day Port Huron (Between Detroit and Mackinac) Looking Towards Canada

Alexander Harrow's Journal, 1791 - 1800 (links added):


"Abstract [Lehigh University online site]: Born in Scotland, Harrow emigrated to Canada...and worked as an officer in the British Navy. In 1779 he was commissioned Lieutenant and Commander in the Naval Armament of the Lakes and was given command of the sloop Wellcome overseeing the shipping of government supplies and the movements of civilian passengers between Detroit and Mackinac the route of the lucrative fur trade. In his journal, Harrow keeps copies of his correspondence as well as his orders of barrels of salt, rum, and pork. A portion of the journal was kept on board the Chippewa a ship he remained on until 1796."

The Strength Of New France

From The Plains of Abraham by Brian Connell, a book about the French-Indian War:

"Strategically, French America occupied a position of almost impregnable strength."
"New France was more than Canada. It stretched more than three thousand miles from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to New Orleans at the mouth of the Mississippi."

Source Of An Early Map Ca. 1664 (McGill University)- Virginia And Florida Were Included

My In Deeds blog included another early map in a post entitled McGill University's Map Collection Online, remembering that Michigan was once part of Canada.

The House Of Unfulfilled Desire

The house of unfulfilled desire was written by Harlan P. Rowe and published in 1911.  Harlan was the nephew of Carrie (Merrill) Owen.  Was the Harlan Rowe who was born on 9 August 1881 in Bay County, Michigan, the same man who lived in France in 1935 and in Detroit as a merchandising manager in 1940 and even earlier? [Yes, it appears to be the case]


A deed between Carrie and her sister Mary (Merrill) Rowe Rawlings here (excerpt from blog post: *Mary's first husband was Harlan Page Rowe.)

Carrie was the mother of Grace (Owen) MacDonald, wife of Francis MacDonald.  Francis's sister, Harriet, was the 1st wife of Albert Edward Cameron; Harriet died in childbirth.

United States Census, 1900
Event Place: ED 26 Verona township Bad Axe village, Huron, Michigan, United States
Household Gender Age Birthplace
Head Elias P Rowe M 54 Michigan
Son Harlan P Rowe M 19 Michigan
Daughter Laura M Rowe F 9 Michigan
Mother Mary W Rawlings F 71 New York

Harlan Page Rowe was a graduate of the University of Michigan in 1905.

I  believe that the author was this Harlan Page Rowe who, because of the illness and death of his father, Elias P. Rowe, abandoned his literary career for the sake of the family.  He lived in France, a circumstance related in this newspaper column (Thumb Notes - Bad Axe).

He died in 1950.

Connected To One By Family And The Other By Geography

From Washington, West of the Cascades...


"In 1907 he [Judge Thomas Burke] went abroad, accompanied by his wife and Mr. and Mrs. M. F. Backus*. They sailed on the steamship Minnesota and traveled extensively through the Orient, combining business and pleasure, for the two gentlemen were special commissioners of the Alaska-Yukon Pacific Exposition. Their efforts in that connection were given without compensation and the participation of the Japanese and other oriental peoples in the exposition was brought about through their efforts."

*Manson Franklin (M.F.) Backus was the nephew of my great-great-great grandmother, Laura (Backus) Richmond (Manson's father, Clinton, was Laura's half-brother), and it was his name that caught my attention in the book.  

"In the meantime he (Thomas Burke) had determined upon the law as his life work and in preparation therefore he entered the Michigan State University [sic] at Ann Arbor, although again his period of study was not a continuous one, as it was necessary for him to leave the university at times and continue teaching in order to meet the expense of his college course. He was also a student for a time in the office of a practicing lawyer at Marshall, Michigan, and following his admission to the bar he entered upon active practice in that city. Before a year had passed he was chosen to fill the position of city attorney, which office he continued to fill until his removal to the west in 1875. [He was a student in Ypsilanti, Michigan, in 1870]

He began the practice of his profession in partnership with John J. McGilvra, a pioneer lawyer who came to Washington territory in 1861, holding an appointment as United States district attorney, given to him by President Lincoln. This partnership did not continue very long, although the two men remained firm friends and Burke became permanently related to McGilvra by winning the heart and hand of his beautiful daughter.

.Before leaving Marshall, Judge Burke had decided that Seattle was to be the place of his future residence." 

United States Census, 1880
Name:     Tho'S Burke
Residence:     Seattle, King, Washington
Birthdate:     1851
Birthplace:     New York, United States
Relationship to Head:     Self
Spouse's Name:     Carrie Burke
Spouse's Birthplace:     Illinois, United States
Father's Birthplace:     Ireland
Mother's Birthplace:     Ireland
Race or Color (Expanded):     White
Occupation:     Lawyer
     Household    Gender    Age
      Tho'S Burke     M     29
Spouse     Carrie Burke     F     21

Reading further about Judge Burke, the references to Michigan State University and Marshall, Michigan, got my attention.  We frequently shop and dine in Marshall, Michigan, from our summer home. (Thomas Burke attended the University of Michigan, not Michigan State University).  Not only did Judge Burke live in my neck of the woods at one time, he toured the Orient with one of my "Backus" relatives.