Commodore Grant, where it could receive the attention of so many young ladies. Harpfy and Askin concluded that the Castle was in need of just such an article, and one day, when one of the Commodore's boats was at Malden, they slipped the instrument aboard and it was soon landed at Grosse Pointe. Then came the fun. It was so old and dilapidated that it was useless and in the way. No one wanted it. Only the old friendship existing between Grant and Harpfy prevented the former from casting the musical instrument into "outer darkness." Grant complained to the doctor and asked him to take the piece away from his home. Harpfy had occasion to visit Sandwich and wanted to cross the river and see Askin in Detroit, but the ferry was not running very regularly and the doctor was not feeling very well-he had been sick and was now slowly recovering. Instead of visiting Askin, he wrote him a long letter on various matters, and as a postscript, touched on the subject of the instrument. "October 28th, 9 o'clock at night. I really am sorry that the harpsichord was put in Mr. Grant's boat, for he talks about it-Gods how he talks about it". The joke had been carried too far and Grant would not overlook it, or allow it to proceed further. The instrument must be removed, and that at once. So Askin sent for it, and had it taken to one of his storehouses in the village, where it was taken care of. Askin lived on the front of his farm, not far from the intersection of Atwater and Randolph streets. Atwater street was the only highway to the country on the east side, and the well-do-do class of citizens lived in the neighborhood. Here Askin owned several buildings, and, besides, he had several houses and buildings in the village proper. The last we hear of the instrument that came so near being an instrument of discord is a note in a letter from Dr. Harpfy to Mr. Askin dated November 5, 1799, where he writes "I thank you for your care of the harpsichord. I wish it could be sold." In 1799, there was an election held in Detroit for members of the Legislature, that met at Chillicothe, and Solomon Sibley, then a young attorney at Detroit, was one of the candidates. Voting then was not by secret ballot, as now, but every one gave the name of his candidate as he came up to vote. The voter's name was taken down, and his qualifications for suffrage were also frequently indicated. At the election referred to, some opponent of Judge Sibley kept such a record of the persons who voted for him and from this list I have taken a few names of persons whose descendants are still here. Antoine Dequindre, who was, at that time, the owner of the farm extending along the westerly line of Dequindre street, is thus mentioned, "Has given his creditors all he has; the farm on which he lives is the property of his wife". Christian Clemens, the founder and owner of Mount Clemens "Has no property known.' Ezra F. Freeman, then one of the principal lawyers in the place "Has no property in the Country." James Henry, an uncle of the late D. Farrand Henry. He was, at the time of his death, one of the wealthy citizens of the place, "Lives at Grosse Isle. Lately liberated from the Indians; lives on the estates of the late Macomb." Elijah Brush, the founder of the Brush family, and the owner of the Brush farm, "Lately arrived; has no property known." Sibley was elected over James May, and served in the legislature with Jacob Visgar and Charles Francois Chabert de Joncaire. This brings us to the beginning of the second century of the life of our City. Its population had increased from one hundred who came at the start to some eighteen hundred who lived in the place, and along the shore line on both sides of the River. Now we are well on in the third century of our existence. We look back upon these happy days and sigh as we remember that the simple life—the simple pleasures—and the simple folks of this long ago, are no longer with us, and cannot be found in the tumult of our great City. CHAPTER LIV CEMETERIES OF DETROIT BY CLARENCE M. BURTON The first burial ground in Detroit was located behind and adjoining the little log church of Ste. Anne which was near the northwest corner of Jefferson Avenue and Griswold Street. Ste. Anne Street, which was about twenty feet wide at this place, and from ten to fifteen feet wide in other places, was located within the lines of the present Jefferson Avenue, and the church building, or the front part of it, and a portion of the graveyard, were within the lines of the avenue as they are now laid down. The lands occupied by the church extended northwardly to about the location of Larned Street. This was two blocks in depth of the old village. There was another lot on the east side of the church and then came the easterly picket line of the village. The church was upon a large lot in which the families of the village were buried. Some time ago bodies were dug up from the middle of Jefferson Avenue, near the site of the old church. They were in that part of the old cemetery which was included in the avenue and were overlooked or missed in the excavation and removals made in 1817. Most all of the burials were made in this ground, around the church, from 1701 to 1760. During that time the place was under the French Government and the inhabitants were exclusively Catholic. In 1760, Detroit changed to British control and the new people were mostly Protestants or non-Catholics. A new cemetery was opened near the intersection of Woodward Avenue and Larned Street for the English inhabitants, and the Catholics took another piece of land between this and Griswold Street. None of the streets named were opened at that time, but the streets are called by their present names so that one can tell the approximate location. There were some burials of English people in the government garden sought of Ste. Anne Street near the eastern picket line, that is about the location of the Michigan Mutual Life Insurance Company building, on the southwest corner of Jefferson Avenue and Griswold Street. Jehu Hay, the last British governor who lived in Detroit, was buried in this spot, and the remains of other persons have been found there. Additional ground, of about one acre, was given to the Prostestants by order of the military department in 1797. This was on the northeast corner of Woodward Avenue and Larned Street, an enlargement of the old cemetery. Additional lands were also given the Catholics in what is now Congress Street east of Bates. The records of the Ste. Anne Church contain the fololwing entry of October 7, 1798: "At an assembly of the older men of this parish called during the prone of the mass, monsieur the curé informed those present that Colonel Strong had offered one arpent of land for cemetery uses, conditioned that four persons accept it and that the trustees will make the necessary appropriation for the necessary work. The land is of the public domain." 1420 Six months later, April 6, 1799, there is the following entry: "Having obtained the one arpent of land from the commandant for a Roman Catholic cemetery, each citizen of our church is to furnish ten stakes, and the accounts agreed upon, £13, 5s., are allowed for the work of Joseph Coté and Charles Labadie." The Colonel Strong referred to was Col. David Strong, who was in military command of Detroit in 1796 and 1798. An arpent is the French acre, a square of 192 feet, 9 inches, on a side. The entire cemetery was necessarily enclosed in a picket line made of small trees, or stakes set on end in the gounds. In 1805 the Catholic Church in the village was burned and the lands covered by it were idle for many years. In 1807 the Catholic Church was organized as a corporation under the name of the "Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church of Ste. Anne of Detroit." The corporation was supposed to have been the owner of the church site on Jefferson Avenue, although the title stood in the name of the priest, Gabriel Richard. The church petitioned for larger building grounds and for church grounds in 1806. Acting along the line of the plan laid down for the granting of lots in the new plat of the city, after the fire of 1805, the governor and judges requested the church to surrender the title to their old church lot and, in lieu of it, take other lands. This would have necessitated the surrender of the burial ground on Jefferson Avenue. An assembly was called at the church April 19, 1807, where it was resolved not to give up the old church site, and a committee composed of Charles Moran, John R. Williams and Joseph Campau was chosen to present the remonstrance to the legislature. The remonstrance was received April 20, 1807, and a reply was made the same day. The following is an extract from the reply of the governor and judges to the committee: "We shall comply with great cheerfulness with the wishes of the Catholic Society relative to their church. Some time since a committee of that body made propositions for an increased quantity of ground for the interment of the deceased, and a new location in conformity with the lines of the city for a permanent and substantial edifice. We acceded to them with great pleasure, and as our only object is to gratify the members of the society on this subject, if it is their desire to relinquish the new ground and retain the old, we shall have the same pleasure—acquiesce in it. Every arrangement in our power towards their more comfortable accommodations on the old grounds we shall readily assist in. It would be very desirable that no building should be placed in a permanent street, but as the street is wider than heretofore, one-half of it could be spared for a temporary enclosure for a limited number of years without essential inconvenience. If any remains of ancient interments should fall without this line, we should consider it advisable to have them removed within it, even at public expense, as it does not comport with that respect which the living in most all countries are conceived to owe to the dead, that the remains should be carelessly abandoned." The church did not, at this time, accept the proposal to exchange, but retained their old site and churchyard. They objected seriously to the opening of Jefferson Avenue and sent to the legislature the following communication: "To his Excellency, Governor William Hull and the Hon. Judges Augustus B. Woodward and John Griffin, Esquires-Composing the Government of Michigan. "The memorial of the Inhabitants of the Parish of St. Ann in the Territory of Michigan through their committee, respectfully sheweth. That after having maturely considered the proposal of the Legislature, respecting the relinquishment of the ground held by the Inhabitants of this Country from the date of its earliest settlement, by their French Ancestors as a public Burial and Church Ground Lot, in consideration of other ground delineated by the appellation of the little Square near the Fortress of Detroit, we acknowledge the superior intrinsic value of the ground proposed to us, but owing to the strongest natural ties, which spring from sources that imperiously bind our sensibilities as civilised men, must and do by these presents, decline any alienation whatever of said soil. The committee in support of their opinions adduce the grand fundamental principles of immutable nature, emphatically felt and nobly expressed by the illustrious framers of our invaluable constitution to shew that among the several inalienable rights with which nature and natures God has invested man, is that most essential one of pursuing the means of happiness. "We appeal to the humanity of our fellow citizens to decide whether it would not evince (in the highest degree) a want of those humane and charitable qualifications which are and ought to be the peculiar characteristic of Christians, were we to abandon for the purpose of a common highway, the earth in whose bosom reposes the remains of our fathers, our mothers and common kindred. O Sympathy! O Nature! where are thy Godlike Virtues, by which the great Author of the Universe has distinguished Man! Confiding once more, not only on the wisdom and magnanimity of the government of the United States, but also, upon the equity and validity of our claim, to the said Church ground, which we and our forefathers have held in quiet possession, under three successive governments, we now apply to your Honorable board for the adjustment of our title and a deed for the said ground lot comformably to an act of the Congress of the United States entitled 'An act to provide for the adjustment of Titles of Land in the Town of Detroit, etc.' "A subsequent consideration, no less interesting to our parishioners, is the lot of ground known by the name of the new Catholic burial. Consequently it may not be amiss to explain in as concise a manner as possible the claim that we have to it. About the year 1796 or 97 it was deemed expedient for the benefit and health of the inhabitants of the ancient town of Detroit (considering the great length of time that the small space of ground adjacent to the church has been used as a public place of interment) that a new burial ground should be allotted to our congregation on the then public commons. Accordingly the ground we now hold in our possession was picketted in with the approbation of the Corporation of Detroit and the consent of Hamtramck the Mili tary Commandt. of this place under whose exclusive jurisdiction the Commons were then in some manner considered. Therefore we, the Committee, do now by these presents in the name of the inhabitants of the aforesaid parish of St. Ann, pray that grant may issue for this last mentioned place of interment, as well as for the ancient lot of church ground. "And Your Memorialist Petitioners as in duty bound shall ever, etc., "Detroit the 22nd. April 1807. "CHARLES MORAN |