THE MICHIGAN STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

ARRANGED BY J. C. HOLMES, OF DETROIT

The original corporators of this Society were Gen. Lewis Cass, Henry Whiting, John Biddle, Father Gabriel Richard, Rev. N. M. Wells, Rev. Richard F. Cadle, Isaac McIlvain, Zara H. Coston, Austin E. Wing, Thomas Rowland, John L. Whiting, Henry S. Cole, Jonathan Kearsley, Samuel W. Dexter, Dr. Zina Pitcher, Edwin P. James, Henry R. Schoolcraft, and Charles C. Trowbridge.

The charter was approved June 23, 1828.

Its first officers were:

President, Gen. Lewis Cass; first vice president, John Biddle; second vice president, Thomas Rowland; corresponding secretary, Henry Whiting; recording secretary, Henry S. Cole; treasurer, Charles C. Trowbridge; librarian, John L. Whiting.

The first meeting was held July 3d, 1828, at the Mansion House, John Johnson, of Sault Ste. Marie, Robert Smart, of Mackinac, and William Woodbridge and John R. Williams, of Detroit, were elected members. Hon. John Trumbull, of Connecticut, was chosen an honorary member.

Sept. 8th, 1829.-E. A. Brush and William Ward were chosen members. Thomas Jefferson Randolph, of Virginia, and Edward Everett and Jared Sparks, of Mass., were elected honorary members. Adjourned to meet at the capitol in the afternoon of September 18th, to listen to a discourse by the President.

Sept. 18th, 1829.-A vote of thanks was passed to Gen. Cass for his address, delivered at this, their first annual anniversary, and requesting a copy for preservation in the society's records, and for publication. The resident members were assessed one dollar each to defray contingent expenses. The old board of officers were re-elected. Eurotus P. Hastings, Lucius Lyon, Elon Farnsworth, Walter L. Newberry, Benjamin F. Larned, of the U. S. army,

Shubael Conant, Stephen C. Henry, A. L. Porter, Solomon Sibley, judge of the supreme court, Gen. Hugh Brady, of the U. S. Army, and Rev. William Ferry, of Mackinac, were all elected members of the Society. Dr. Alexander Wolcott, of Chicago, was chosen an honorary member. H. R. Schoolcraft was requested to deliver the next address.

Oct. 3d, 1829.-Mr. Schoolcraft presented a memoir of the life of John Johnston, of Sault Ste. Marie; also a synopsis of the voyages of Jacques Cartier, which were deposited with the recording secretary.

Oct. 5th, 1829.-E. A. Brush and Henry Whiting were appointed to take charge of the museum and manuscripts of the Society. Dr. Robert Clark, of Monroe, J. B. Walling, of St. Joseph, and Dr. Samuel Denton, of Washtenaw, were chosen members.

Dec. 2d, 1829.-Col. Joseph Watson, of Washington, was elected an honorary member, and Maj. A. R. Thompson as a member.

May 21st, 1830.-Hon. N. Dane, of Mass., and Gen. P. B. Porter, of New York, were elected honorary members, and John H. Kinzie, of Fort Winnebago, and Dr. [Dennis] Cooley, of Macomb county, were elected members. The anniversary was fixed to take place June 4th.

June 4th, 1830, the anniversary address was delivered at the capitol by Mr. Schoolcraft, a vote of thanks and a request for a copy for publication was passed.

The so

Major Henry Whiting was chosen to deliver the next address. ciety having learned that Lucius Lyon was about to visit the country west of Lake Michigan, he was requested to procure such Indian curiosities, minerals and manuscripts as in his judgment would be of value to the Society, and to prepare a memoir on the various localities of the mining country. A map of Florida was received from Major John Biddle, and a treatise on the mode of preserving objects of natural history from Dr. Pitcher. The old officers were again re-elected and Lucius Lyon was chosen a third curator.

July 23d, 1830.-Copies of the discourses delivered at the annual anniversaries were ordered sent to the historical societies of New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and to the historical committee of the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia.

Gen. Cass, Mr. Ward, Maj. Biddle, and Reverend Messrs. Wells and Bury were appointed a committee to consider the expediency of establishing a periodical to promote the interests of the Society.

E. P. Hastings, Mr. Ward, and Mr. Schoolcraft were appointed a committee to make a collection of books and pamphlets useful to the society. Dr. R. S. Rice, Rev. Mr. Bury, B. F. H. Witherell, Gen. Charles Larned, Ben

jamin B. Kircheval [Kercheval], Joseph W. Torrey, William A. Fletcher, De Garmo Jones of Detroit, and Charles Noble of Huron, were chosen members.

March 6th, 1831.-A meeting was held at the society's hall in the council house. The corresponding secretary reported letters of acknowledgement received from Hons. Edward Everett and Nathan Dane and Rev. Jared Sparks, Mr. Everett accompanying his with a volume of his addresses. A communication was also received from the Historical Society of New Hampshire, promising to send a copy of their Transactions on the opening of navigation. Another communication was reported from the Rhode Island Philosophical Society urging a co-operation in memorializing congress to obtain from the public archives in England the documents relating to the early history of the colonies. Mr. Schoolcraft presented a collection of minerals, specimens and organic remains with a catalogue; also a number of specimens of Indian work. Maj. Biddle presented the journal of the house of representatives in several volumes, from the earliest period of the history of the government to the current time; also the diplomatic correspondence edited by Mr. Sparks in twelve volumes, executive journal of the U. S. in 3 volumes, Gales and Seaton's Congressional Debates in three volumes, and journal of the U. S. Senate in one volume. Gen. Cass presented a collection of specimens illustrating the geology and mineralogy of the country visited by him during his expedition of 1820; also a pair of moose horns and a specimen taken from a fossil tree on the River des Plaines.

Dr. Pitcher presented a pair of antlers of an elk, killed near Fort Gratiot. Col. De Garmo Jones presented part of a tree in which was imbedded a deer's horn, found in Oakland County. Mr. Lyon deposited a large mineralogical and geological collection. Mr. Newberry presented the shell of a very large turtle procured at Mackinac. The corresponding secretary was instructed to procure the printing of fifty copies of "Instructions for preserving objects of Natural History" and to distribute them through the Territory.

March 16th, 1831.-W. H. Welch, C. K. Green, George Wilson, Edward Bingham, and Ebenezer S. Sibley were made members, and Gen. Alexander Macomb, Gen. Charles Gratiot, Dr. Ira M. Wells of Troy, Hon. John D. Dickinson of Troy, Prof. Eaton of Rensselaer School, Prof. Hedge of Harvard University, and Mr. Houghton of Troy were elected honorary members.

May 11th, 1831.-A special meeting was called, Judge Sibley in the chair. The society having been apprised of the death of Hon. John Trumbull* it was Resolved, That the Historical Society of Michigan sincerely regret the death of Judge Trumbull, an honorary member thereof, regarding him as an eminent patriot, poet and civilian; also that they would attend his funeral.

* Mr. Trumbull was the author of McFingal.-C. M. B.

Dr. Lewis C. Beck of Albany, Prof. Fred. Hall of Baltimore, Prof. Eli Ives, Prof. Silliman of Yale College, Thomas Howe of Brownville, N. Y., Dr. T. Romeyn Beck of New York, Prof. Theodore Strong of N. J., Prof. Charles Anthon of Columbia College, Bishop Brownell of Conn., Rev. Alonzo Potter of Boston, Rev. George W. Doane of Boston, Dr. Nott of Schenectady, Dr. John Forney of N. Y., Prof. Edward F. Johnson of Hartford, and Dr. Steele of Saratoga, were all proposed as honorary members. Mr. Johnson of Sault Ste. Marie presented a lynx in a fine state of preservation.

June 5th, 1831.-The annual address was delivered at St. Paul's church, by Maj. Henry Whiting.

July 7th, 1831.-A copy of the address was solicited for publication. Rev. Gabriel Richard was invited to deliver the next annual address. The old officers were re-elected. Mr. Ward presented four volumes of the Congressional Journal of the Confederation; Maj. Whiting presented eleven volumes of state papers; Mr. Justus McKinstry, of Hudson, N. Y., presented four volumes of the folio edition of 1697 "Dictionaire Historique et Critique par Mons. Boyle," and four volumes of the folio edition of 1717 of Le Grand Dictionaire Historique par Morin.

March 2d, 1832.-Rev. Gabriel Richard, having declined to deliver the next annual address, Major John Biddle was requested to deliver it. The curators were allowed to put the books belonging to the Society in the Detroit Atheneum for its use, under suitable regulations, September 10th, 1832. September 10th was fixed upon for the anniversary.

Sept. 15th, 1832.-Maj. John Biddle delivered the address in St. Paul's church, and a copy was solicited for publication. John T. Mason, George McDougall, Charles W. Whipple, John P. Sheldon, Kintzing Pritchett, his excellency George B. Porter, George F. Porter, George L. Whitney, and Judges [George] Morell and [Ross] Wilkins were proposed for membership. Thomas Rowland was requested to deliver the next annual address.

Here occurs a lengthy interregnum in which it is presumed no meetings of the society were held, as no traces of any record are to be found. On the leaf following the record of the last meeting above noticed, is the following minute:

"Detroit, March 15th, 1857.-Note by the corresponding secretary. Thomas Rowland, Esq., after about a year's hesitancy, finally declined to deliver the annual discourse. Then repeated efforts were made to induce others to undertake the task, but without success. In 1836 Henry S. Cole, the recording secretary of the society, died at Detroit."

After an interregnum of nearly five years, the next meeting was held in the office of Mr. Schoolcraft.

March 18th, 1837.-Maj. John Biddle took the chair. The society then proceeded to the election of officers as follows: President, John Biddle; vice president, Thomas Rowland; corresponding secretary, Henry Whiting; recording secretary, Augustus S. Porter; treasurer, Charles C. Trowbridge; librarian, Zina Pitcher; curators, Henry Whiting, Douglass Houghton, [Edmund] A. Brush, Messrs. Whiting, Schoolcraft and Pitcher were appointed a committee to collect such pamphlets as may be useful in examining the history of this country, and of this state in particular. Mr. Trowbridge was appointed a committee to address Gen. Cass, Minister to the court of France, requesting him to procure for the society such works relating to the early settlement of this country by the French as he may deem useful. Capt. Henry Smith of Monroe, Hon. E. Mundy of Ann Arbor, and Bishop [Samuel A.] McCoskry of Detroit, were elected members.

June 3d, 1837.-The proper committee reported that Hon. A. E. Wing had consented to deliver the next address.

February 24th, 1838.-A meeting was called but failed for want of a quo

rum.

February 28th, 1838.-Gen. Cass, through Dr. Pitcher, presented to the Society the Pontiac Manuscript,* in French, relating to the siege of Detroit in 1763 by the confederate chiefs under Pontiac. Maj. Henry Brevoort presented a manuscript Indian deed, dated May 26th, 1771, conveying a farm at Springwells. Dr. Abram Sager, [Alexander] W. Buel, Dr. E. Spring, Dr. George B. Russel, and Franklin Sawyer, Jr., were elected members. Dr. Sager offered a resolution that it would conduce to the progress of historical knowledge to from a collection of the crania of the North American tribes of Indians, that donations of such crania be solicited, and that it is expedient to have a course of lectures delivered before the society on the subject, which was adopted.

March 12th, 1838.-A meeting was called, but failed for want of a quo

rum.

March 14th, 1838.-The society met at the office of Rice & Pitcher. A letter was received from Hon. A. E. Wing communicating his inability to address the Society as had been expected. Bishop McCoskry was then chosen to deliver the address. Stevens T. Mason, Maj. John Garland, Lieut. E. S. Sibley, John M. Berrien, A. J. Center, Joshua T. Smith, H. K. Sanger, James A. Lauman, John Hulburt, Louis Fasquelle, Theodore Romeyn, Daniel Leroy, of Pontiac; Elisha Ely, of Allegan; Rev. William Kirkland, of Livingston County; Dr. A. L. Porter, Detroit; Rev. S. Center, of Mon

* Published in English Vol. VIII, this series.