old homestead farm adjoining on the south the city of Monroe. He has six children-Joseph A., George W., Charles and Mary (twins), Edith May and Leo John, all minors, residing with their parents.

Colonel Francis Navarre, in the year 1780, bargained for the right, title and interest of the Pottawatomie tribe of Indians, represented by five chiefs, to the farm on the south bank of the Namet Cybi, so called by the Indians because of the great quantity of sturgeon caught therein, but called by the French River Aux Raisins (the French for grapes) from the profusion of grapevines which lined the banks of the river on either side. As late as the years 1843 and 1844 they were growing on the banks west of Monroe, and in great profusion on the Saline and Macon streams, tributary to the River Raisin in the western part of the county, where the forest trees had not yielded to the woodman's axe, growing on the tops of the tallest forest trees. Some of the vines were from six to eight inches through. After climbing to the tops of trees branches dropped to the ground, which again took root and made a perfect mat of vines, filled with clusters, and annually before the "vine casteth her fruit" their appearance was highly picturesque. The original deed executed by the Indian chiefs was written in the French language, and is yet in the hands of Alexander Navarre, one of the grandchildren of Colonel Francis Navarre. A translation into English I procured as a rare curiosity, a copy of which is hereto annexed:

We, the principal chiefs of the village of the Pottawatomies, to wit: Askiby, Mongo-agon, Minguinan, and Ona-oni-attenne, Nana-onito, Sac-co-ni-binne, as well in our names as by the consent of our village, declare that of our good will we have conceded to Francis Navarre, surnamed Tchigoy, and to James, his brother (both our allies), all the extension of land which belongs to us upon the bank of the River Raisin, formerly called Namet Cybi, commencing to take from the river road (as filed in court) to the end of the prairie, going up the stream Namet Cybi, allowing more or less twenty acres in width by eighty or one hundred in depth; the whole may be determined by a line lengthwise south and a league north in width, going up the River Namet Cybi, in order to possess on the whole in all propriety and perpetuity by themselves and their repre

This grant of land from the Indian tribe of Pottawatomies was subsequently ratified by Henry Bassett, commanding at Detroit, in presence of George McDougall, and afterwards confirmed by General Gage.

Two of his brothers, Robert, born in 1764, and Jacques, born in 1760, at Detroit, within three years followed their brother Francis to and settled upon the south bank of the River Raisin, east of the farm of their brother.

Colonel Francis Navarre was one of the first grand jurors at the first court held in Frenchtown, September 2, 1805; colonel in the War of 1812 and 1813, and what is a little remarkable thirty-six Navarres were enlisted and fought in his regiment. He built on his farm the first log house erected on the river, of square hewn timber, fifty feet front, which was the headquarters of Generals Wayne, Winchester and St. Clair, and was occupied as headquarters by General Winchester at the time of the massacre on the River Raisin in 1813, and is now the site of the elegant mansion of Doctor A. I. Sawyer.

Colonel Navarre was thoroughly conversant with the language, peculiar habits and mode of warfare of the savages, and spoke with facility and ease several of their languages. He was captured at Brownstown, whither he had gone in advance of Colonel Richard M. Johnson to negotiate with the Indians; was taken as a prisoner to Sandwich, but fortunately escaped. He was the personal friend of Generals Wayne, Winchester, St. Clair, Cass, McComb and Judge Woodward, and his correspondence with several of them has been preserved. It was soon after his settlement on the River Raisin, stated by some as in the year 1783 and by

others in 1786, that riding on his French pony, following the Indian trail, he brought from Detroit several scions about the size of one's lit tle finger of the French pear, which trees have since become famous for their delicious fruit. A number of the trees are now vigorous and healthy, annually yielding from thirty to forty bushels.

I have frequently listened with great interest to the narratives of Robert, the eldest son of Colonel Francis Navarre, of the incidents that occurred at the time of the barbarous massacre of the River Raisin in January, 1813. Then a young man in his twenty-first year, he distinctly remembered being aroused by his father at midnight; of going up the stairs and arousing General Winchester and his staff, who were somewhat bewildered, as they could distinctly hear from the battle field the sharp crack of the rifle, reports of musketry and booming of cannon. The report that General Winchester, with his officers, had, the evening previous to the attack, retired from a frolic under the influenec of liquor, and were thereby incapacitated for duty, is without foundation. The general repaired in haste to the barn, leaving his uniform coat behind him in the house, mounted Colonel Navarre's horse and rode to the field of battle.

The night after the massacre Colonel Na varre dispatched his son Robert, with his mother and eleven children, on a French train to Detroit for safety, the train being so crowded that Robert rode with his feet braced on the thills or shafts. As they passed the quarters of Colonel Proctor on Sandy Creek, where Proctor's forces encamped the first night after the battle, he witnessed the drunken Indians scalping the wounded American prisoners and their inhuman and barbarous manner of accomplishing it by cutting with a butcher knife a circle around the crown of the head, and then placing one foot on the neck of the prisoner, with their hands in the hair, by main force peeling the scalp from the head. This Robert Navarre, who died in Monroe, was the last of the survivors in our vicinity of the soldiers of the War of 1812 and 1813.

I am under great obligations to the treasurer of our county, the Hon. Alexander Navarre, the grandson of Colonel Francis Navarre, who has in his possession the original files of the accounts, statements and settlements between

him and merchants and fur traders of those early days. I was surprised, in perusing them, to learn the vast amount of money represented therein, and to see the methodical and accurate manner in which the statements and accounts were kept, and the very neat and legible handwriting, which would favorably compare with the statements of the best accountants of the present day.

Colonel Navarre was highly esteemed by Governor St. Clair, General McComb, Governor Lewis Cass, Judge Woodward and General Winchester, and a number more of distinguished men of his time, judging from the commissions to him and the voluminous correspondence with those gentlemen, which are pervaded with very strong expressions of friendship and great confidence in his patriotism and bravery. Believing the perusal of a small portion of them would interest the citizens of Monroe, I have procured translations of a small number and annex them hereto, with a copy of the orignal letter written in English by General Winchester to Colonel Francis Navarre, in which he gives expression of gratitude and thanks to Mrs. Navarre for preserving his watch, spectacles and pen-knife from the general wreck and destruction of property, on the morning of his defeat and hasty departure from her hospitable home.

Lewis Cass, Governor of the Territory of Michigan, to all who shall see these presents, greeting:

Know ye that reposing special trust and confidence in the integrity, diligence and ability of Francis Navarre, of the County of Monroe, in the said Territory of Michigan, Esquire, I do hereby appoint him to be an Associate Justice of the County Court of said County of Monroe, in said Territory of Michigan, and do authorize him to execute and fulfill the duties of that office according to law, to have and to hold the said office with all the powers, privileges and emoluments to the same of right appertaining, from the day of the date hereof, during the pleasure of the Governor of Michigan for the time being.

In testimony whercof, I have caused these letters to be made and the seal of said Territory of Michigan to be hereunto affixed. Given under my hand at Detroit, in the Territory aforesaid,

this 16th day of July, 1817, and of the independence of the United States the forty-second. By the Governor : LEW. CASS.

WM. WOODBRIDGE,

Secretary of Michigan.

TERRITORY OF MICHIGAN, }
District of Monroe.

Personally appeared before me, the undersigned, the within named Francis Navarre, and took the oath of office prescribed by law. LAURENT DUROCHER, J. P. D. M. RIVER RAISIN, August, A. D. 1817

HEADQUARTERS, DETROIT, July 13, 1816. To Colonel Francis Navarre:

SIR: On due consideration I am of opinion that we cannot get on with the road without the assistance of some person well acquainted with the topography of the country, and I have thought that no person is so well qualified as yourself to guide and direct the trace of the contemplated route.

I shall be glad to know if you will under. take to mark out the line and afford your counsel and advice. For this service a liberal allowance will be made.

Please to inform me as soon as convenient if you can render the services required by this communication.

With great consideration I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient and very humble servant, GENERAL ALEX. MCCOMB.

DETROIT, February 16, 1814.

Colonel Francis Navarre:

DEAR SIR: On receipt of this you may set out for Camp Meigs with ten trains. There was on the 14th instant seventy horse loads that arrived at that place and as many more were expected there the next day. Should you not have flour for all the ten sleighs, load them with cannon ball or boxes of canister that is at Camp Meigs. Yours, etc.,

JAMES MCCLOSKEY,
A. D. to the General.

Lewis Cass, Governor in and over the Territory of Michigan, to all to whom these presents shall come, greeting: Know ye, that reposing especial trust and confidence in the valor, patriotism, fidelity and

abilities of Francis Navarre, I have appointed him Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant in the Second Regiment of Militia. He is, therefore, carefully and diligently to discharge the duties of that appointment by doing and performing all manner of things thereunto belonging, and I do strictly charge and require all officers and soldiers under his command to be obedient to his orders as a lieutenant-colonel commandant, and he is to observe and follow such orders and directions as he shall receive from time to time from the President of the United States of America, or the Governor of the Territory of Michigan for the time being, or general or other superior officers set over him according to the law and military discipline. This commission to continue in force during the pleasure of the Governor of Michigan for the time being.

In testimony whereof, I have caused these letters to be made patent, and the scal of the Territory to be thereunto affixed. Given under my hand, at the city of Detroit, this sixteenth day of December, A. D. 1813, and of the independence of the United States of America the thirty-eighth.

Extract of letter written to Robert Navarre from Jesse P. Green, who fought at the battle of River Raisin in January, 1813:

HARRISON COUNTY, KENTUCKY, Į
May 12, 1825.
S

To Colonel Robert Navarre, River Raisin:
BELOVED FRIEND: I am ever mindful of
your kind, benevolent and charitable services.
at the River Raisin, though years have passed
since our last interview.

It would afford me great pleasure to meet you and your aged father and mother. I can never think of them but with sentiments of gratitude for their kind services rendered me at their hospitable home. I have had the pleasure of seeing your brother, Joseph G. Navarre, in Kentucky. Say to your father and mother he is a gentleman of great promise, and will, doubtless, from his high sentiments and superior abilities, prove an ornament to Michigan Territory. Say also to your father that his services in the defense of his country, and hospitality and kindness to the sons of Kentucky, will be gratefully remembered; that if

he should ever come to Kentucky he would find himself in the midst of a host of friends. I have not received a reply to my letter to him. He may have failed to receive it, as you had no postoffice at Monroe.

Your affectionate friend,

JESSE P. GREEN.

Captain Francis Navarre, Justice of the Peace in and for the County of Wayne, enters for taxation a tract of land containing 708 arpents or French acres, of second rate quality, which tract of land the said Francis Navarre and

James Navarre, his brother, received as a gift

from the chiefs of the Pottawatomie Nation in 1795, together with the farms on which James Navarre, Isadore Navarre and George McDougall now reside, making in the whole 2,400 arpents, or French acres, in front, by 120 in depth, as may appear by the Indian deed thereof, deposited by the said Francis Navarre in the hands of the late Major-General Anthony Wayne while at the treaty of Greenville in August, 1793, the which he has lately authorized Mr. Jonathan Schiefilin to obtain back from the heirs of said Major-General Wayne.

Said Francis Navarre hereby confirms to and quits claiming in any manner whatever, all his rights to the aforesaid farms of James and Isadore Navarre and George McDougall, having presented the two first to his said brothers, and allowed Colonel Chabert to receive afterwards, as a gift of the said Indians, the farm on which the said George McDougall now resides, which he purchased from said Colonel Chabert and afterwards settled. The said tract which Francis Navarre has reserved to himself as aforesaid, and is now entered for taxation, is situated on the River Raisin, in the county of Wayne, and bounded as follows: Five arpents and nine poles in front, beginning on the west by a stone fixed in the division line between the said farm and the farm of George McDougall, and on the west by another stone, with pieces of glass, between the said farm and the farm of Isadore Navarre, running in depth from thence 120 arpents in a parallelogram south, thirty degrees westerly.

RIVER RAISIN, November 13, 1798.

SS.

TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES NORTHWEST OF THE RIVER OHIO, Wayne, Francis Navarre and Joseph Jobin, Esquires, two of the Justices assigned to keep the peace within and for the said county of Wayne, to the Sheriff of said county, greeting:

Summon Francois Vallequet, of the township of Sergeant, in the said county of Wayne, yeoman, to appear before us, at the house of Francis Navarre, Esq., in said county, upon the 25th day of April instant, at ten o'clock in the forenoon of the same day, then and there to answer to and defend against the complaint of George McDougall and George Meldrum to us exhibited, wherein they complain that the said Francois Vallequet, on the 8th day of April instant, at River Aux Sauble, in Sergeant township, in the said county of Wayne, with force and arms and with a strong hand, did unlawfully and forcibly enter into and upon a tract of land of them, the said George Meldrum and George McDougall, in the said township of Sergeant, on the River Aux Sauble aforesaid, containing 120 acres, French measure, being part and parcel of a certain tract of land of them, the said Meldrum and McDougall, of 4,000 acres, bounded as follows,viz.: Southerly on the said River Aux Sauble, northerly and westerly on the lands of said Meldrum and McDougall, and easterly on the lands of said Meldrum and McDougall, now in possession of Joseph Porlea Benac; and them, the said Meldrum and McDougall, with force and arms and a strong hand, as aforesaid, did expel and unlawfully put out of possession; and them, the said Meldrum and McDougall, does unlawfully and unjustly and with a strong hand deforce and still keep out of possession of the same. And you are to make to us a return of this summons and your proceedings thercon on or before the said day.

Witness our hands and seals the 15th day of April, A. D. 1799.

FR. NAVARRE, Justices of the
JOSEPH JOBIN, S Peace.

I have made service of the within summons by leaving a copy with the defendant this day. LEWIS BOND, Sheriff.

April 16, 1799.

Copy of letter from General Winchester to Colonel Francis Navarre, Frenchtown:

DEAR SIR: Your favor of the 18th of November last did not reach me until yesterday, though I had previously received from Colonel Anderson a letter on the same subject, and without loss of time sent to his address at Washington a statement of facts to the best of my recollection, relating to the public property as well as my baggage, which was in your house on the fatal 22d of January, 1813. I regret the embarrassments which Colonel Anderson imprudently and improperly got himself into in Washington, and sincerely hope it will not operate against the just claims of the people at River Raisin. I feel myself very much obliged to Madam Navarre for preserving my watch, spectacles and pen-knife from the general wreck and destruction of property on the morning of my defeat.

Can you give me any information concerning my papers and books? Some few of them were in my trunk at your house, but the most of them in a trunk on the other side of the river. I should like to know if these papers fell into the hands of the Indians or the British. Present my respects to Madam Navarre, and accept for yourself the consideration of the regard of your obedient servant,

WINCHESTER. Mailed February 23d; received March 21, 1816 Postage, 25 cents.

DETROIT, June 6th, 1821.

To Mr. Francis Navarre:

MY DEAR FRIEND AND RELATION: The new arrangement which has taken place in our army calls me out of this country to go to Washington. This circumstance alone has been able to separate me from a great number of friends and relations who are dear, and to whom I am sincerely attached. As long as I have had the honor of commanding upon these frontiers I am constantly obliged to maintain peace between our neighbors, as much in Canada as with the savages; and my only aim has been to protect all citizens and guarantee to them their rights and privileges. The old French inhabitants have been the continual object of my attention and solicitude — above all that they are ignorant of their own rights, and the

principles which form the base of our American Government. The Congress of the United States has extended to the inhabitants of Michigan Territory its friendship and protection, in publishing laws to assure them of the possession of their lands, which were depending upon uncertain titles, which at present have been confirmed with true propriety in a complete and legal manner. It is a great misfortune that amongst the Canadians are found so many who cannot read or write. The acquisition of these first principles of education is an indispensable necessity to every American citizen. Without these principles one can not be fully apprised of the daily improvements; to know the laws which are published in the papers for the advantage of all; and above all, be able to keep his own accounts and govern his own affairs It is also essential to know the English language, because the acts of government and courts of justice are printed in that language. I would urge you, therefore, particularly, that all the descendants of Francis should teach their children the English and French languages. The advantage of speaking them both would be very great, because they are used daily in the most ordinary details of life. Besides that, the knowledge of several languages has always been regarded by people of the world, even the most polished, as a very great accomplishment. The French of Michigan Territory are always noticed for their polite, gentle and engaging manners. These virtues, if I may call them such, contribute much to distinguish a people and prove in them a degree of civilization which is appreciated, justly, by all persons of enlightenment and instruction. At the same time I should be deceiving you if I did not tell you that the inhabitants of this Territory are much inferior to the rest of their fellow-citizens of the United States in point of arts and sciences; and above all in agriculture, which is not regarded as the least occupation by which men may support themselves. The reason of it is simple, and the blame cannot be thrown upon the inhabitants. It should be attributed only to the peculiar situation in which they have been placed, even since the first establishment of the country. Neither the Government which inaugurated these first colonies, nor the English who have succeeded that Government, have dreamed of making of them an agricultural people.