very close and delightful, so that it was seldom that at least half a dozen guests were present from the first swell social circles of those places. It is very likely that New Year's calls had their origin in Continental Europe. It appears that the custom was brought to New York by the Dutch and the Huguenots, as one of their peculiar institutions. It was quickly "naturalized" and became in 1790 and 1800 universally fashionable, for the good people were not slow to recognize the "good points" of the innovation and immediately made it a part of their domestic life and fixed customs. We are informed that George Washington and Mrs. Washington "received" on each New Year's day, and made their very numerous guests welcome with their characteristic Virginia hospitality. At one of the first of these popular functions. Mrs. Washington afterwards remarked that none of the public proceedings of the day so pleased "the General," by which title she always designated her husband, "as the friendly greeting of those who called upon him." But there was another side to the pioneer's New Year's: an instance will suffice to emphasize this. In 1832 a family named Banting came from Vermont to the new territory of Michigan to settle on some of the $1.25 an acre land which was then being very freely entered at the land office in Monroe. This family finally decided upon a location some miles west of Monroe on a stream which is not named in the story which is being related, but probably the Huron river. Early in the year they built a quite comfortable dwelling house and planted some crops on land which they partially cleared, and soon had neighbors from Ohio and New York state, with whom they became fast and warm friends and did not lack at times other visitors less welcome, the Pottowotamie Indians. The year drew to a close, and one of the neighbors kindly informed the Bantings that on New Year's day, which was near at hand, their Indian friends, who had become thus far civilized as to copy the custom of New Year's calls of the eastern country, would probably "be around to pay their respects" and that they would expect a warm welcome and a few presents, which they would reciprocate in their own way and by making presents in return. On the morning of the first day of the new year, therefore, Mrs. Banting was alarmed by the discharge of guns fired close to the house. Running into the front room to ascertain the cause, she was confronted by a party of Indians, men and squaws, who entered, smiling and greeting in a manner intended very plainly to mean, "A Happy New Year." She was immediately surrounded by half a dozen "braves" who insisted upon the season's privileges of kissing her as a part of the ceremonies of the day. Mrs. Banting vainly declined the honor and struggled without avail to free herself from the copper-colored admirers, but finally succeeded in making her escape, and running into the rear room to seek the protection of her husband. She found him surrounded by the female contingent of the callers, very much to her dismay, who were equally persistent in bestowing upon the bewildered Banting lusty smacks in the utmost good nature and in spite of struggles. She then ran out of the house to the neighbor, who had previously posted her on the Indian New Year's custom, and to seek his intervention, but she was too late. The Indians were there before her and the whole family, old and young, male and female, was undergoing the penalty for invading the lands and homes of the aborigines. The whole performance was carried out thoroughly and in the most friendly and amiable manner, when the exchange of gifts began, and ended by a liberal quantity of birch bark "fixings," maple sugar mococks and moccasins being left by the callers, and by their taking away in return such showy articles as they most prized, but of no great value to the Bantings. CHAPTER XL FRENCH AND YANKEE PIONEERS COL. FRANCIS NAVARRE-ROBERT F. NAVARRE-JOSEPH G. NAVARRE- The earliest of the pioneers who came into the River Raisin valley were of French extraction. Later, arrived the representatives of the New England and Middle (so called) states. Most worthy men typical of both these elements are mentioned below. COLONEL FRANCIS NAVARRE There were few if any white settlers upon the River Raisin previous to 1767. There were many visits paid to the Indian village where the Fourth Ward alone now numbers more than 2,000 people. The River Raisin valley was a great hunter's paradise, and thousands of fur bearing animals attracted the trapper and the fur trader. So far as can be ascertained, and it is no doubt an incontrovertible fact, that the first white settler to make a permanent home in this beautiful wilderness was Francois Navarre, who was born in Detroit, the son of Robert Navarre, who came from France at an early day, a man of many accomplishments, of attractive personality, who became immensely popular with his fellow citizens. Large families were the rule in that period rather than the exception, and Mr. Navarre's fireside boasted a circle by no means the smallest on the Strait of Detroit. It is a matter of record that the family of Colonel Navarre furnished upwards of thirty members of the regiment which their noble relative commanded as lieutenant-colonel of Michigan Militia in 1813. Uncles, nephews, sons, brothers, cousins were there, and good loyal soldiers they were. The house which Mr. Navarre built upon the tract of land ceded to him by the Pottawattamies was one of liberal dimensions, built of hewed logs, with a frontage of sixty feet facing the River Raisin, which was the central figure in this glorious expanse of forest and stream, and was the hospitable stopping place for whomsoever properly claimed its protection. It was the headquarters of Generals Wayne and St. Clair, commanders in the Northwestern army and of General Winchester in the winter of 1812-13, when he led the brave Kentuckians on their desperate attempt to relieve and protect the exposed settlements north of the Miami. This primitive, fort-like structure was afterwards enlarged, a second story added, clapboarded and became one of the principal residences in the eastern portion of the city; it was once occupied as the rectory of Trinity Episcopal church, and a place of many enjoyable social gatherings. Colonel Navarre's familiarity with the customs, habits and language of the Indians, often stood him in good stead when the life of himself or his family were in jeopardy; for while he was on friendly terms with all the Pottawattamies, there were occasional sprees inspired by fire water obtained from unscrupulous traders, which generally ended in a drunken brawl; at such times the Indians forgot their friendship for their good French neighbor and caused no little alarm for their safety. As a matter of fact, it is claimed by his descendants that he located here by the invitation of the Indians, the then sole owners of the soil, who granted him a tract of one thousand two hundred or one thousand five hundred acres of land, comprising the portion of the city of Monroe east of Scott street, extending from the River Raisin south to the farms laid out on Otter creek. He retained at the time of his death about five hundred acres of great value, which he willed to his children. Colonel Navarre was the first person who attempted the establishment of military discipline and the forms of civil government in this county; was the first appointed captain, afterwards colonel, in the first regiment of militia formed in the county. He held at different times and for long periods civil offices under the state or territorial government. He maintained during his whole life great influence over the Indians; was distinguished for his energy in aiding to accomplish the celebrated Indian treaty concluded at Greenville, Ohio, under the direction of General Wayne, by which the United States became possessed of an immense body of land, and secured the right of constructing roads through the state of Michigan. He witnessed the first commencement of a settlement here; saw the same destroyed, the houses of the inhabitants sacked and burned, lived to see the remaining inhabitants settled anew, in comparative affluence, and build up a flourishing village within a few rods of his own door. He was remarkable for his habits of temperance, industry and frugality, hospitable to new-comers, and was noted for the strictest honesty and uprightness in all his intercourse with mankind. The night after the massacre at the River Raisin Colonel Navarre dispatched his son, Robert, with his mother and eleven children, on a French traineau to Detroit for safety, which was 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 stripping 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. Colonel Navarre died in Monroe, September 1, 1826. In the library of St. Mary's Academy there is a "Book of the Navarre family" in which are recorded many historical incidents of the early occupations of Monroe, that are more stirring than any romance. ROBERT F. NAVARRE The oldest son of Col. Francis Navarre was the first white male child born in the county of Monroe, and lived during his long life of ninety years on a portion of the land near Monroe, which had been ceded to his father by the Pottawotamie Indians. He was a man of mental and physical vigor, and was always interested in relating the stirring events of which he was an eye witness, the tragic scenes of the battle of the River Raisin and the subsequent massacre of his kindred by the blood thirsty savages under Proctor, after the surrender by General Winchester on January 22, 1813. He and his cousins were employed, after that atrocious outrage, in transporting the wounded American soldiers who had escaped the toma hawk and scalping knife, from Frenchtown to Malden. ROBERT NAVARRE Robert Navarre was born and always lived in Frenchtown. He was twenty-two years old when the battle of Frenchtown and massacre on the River Raisin took place. His memory was very clear on the circumstances of this atrocious deed done in the name of war, but unfortunately, his ability to give the details of what he saw was not sufficient to form a connected narrative. Like many of his race he had made but little progress in the mastery of the Anglo Saxon tongue. Mr. Navarre was present at the Veterans Reunion in Monroe in 1872, that notable gathering, when more than one hundred of the survivors of the massacre, and of the living veterans of the Kentucky were here, whose average age was about ninety years. Mr. Navarre was a farmer in the township of Frenchtown at the time of his death which occurred about twenty-years ago. He lived in a great game region and like all the farmers, delighted in the hunt after deer and bear and others of the big animals of the forests which surrounded them on every hand. At first, of course, their only neighbors were the Indians. Pottawotamies and Shawnees, who were peaceable and friendly enough until the influence of the British and fur traders stirred up a feeling of animosity. He was known and respected by the Indians, for he had always treated them justly and fairly, and by this means secured their confidence. At this time, 1810-12 there were but three houses standing on the south bank of the river, one of them being owned by his father, Colonel Navarre, one by Joseph Navarre, an uncle, and another farther west at the present site of the Lafountain block, corner of Front and Monroe streets. In the village of Frenchtown across the river there were some fifty log houses and a trading post. Furs were brought to the village from all the country round, and sold to the traders in exchange for blankets, beads, calico and-whisky. After a day spent among the places where liquor was to be had the redskins were in a very hilarious mood, and later, in a very ugly condition, when they created very lively scenes, often resulting in drunken sprees and violent personal encounters. Then the traders drove them into the streets and into their canoes and started them homeward. JOSEPH G. NAVARRE Joseph G. Navarre, the son of Colonel Francis Navarre, was born at the River Raisin in January, 1795. The second white child of Monroe had the advantages of such education as was possible in the early days, was intended by his father for the priesthood, spent several years at Bardstown, Kentucky, preparing for orders, but before completing his studies for the priesthood he entered the law office of the Hon. William Woodbridge at Detroit. While there he was of very great service to the early settlers of the territory in making the necessary proofs and papers to establish the titles to the lands on the River Detroit, River Raisin, Swan creek, Stony creek, Sandy creek, Otter creek, and Bay settlement. He was also very efficient and of great service to the early settlers that had suffered the loss of their property by the British army under Colonel Proctor during the War of 1812. He did not enter upon professional life as a lawyer, yet was very frequently consulted by the early settlers on all questions pertaining to the title to their lands, their claims for losses in the war, and the settlement of controversies that arose on the River Raisin. While in the office of Governor Woodbridge he was called home by the illness and death of his father, and thereafter was occupied a number of years in administering on the closing up of the estate. He ceased pursuing his studies, settled upon the farm south of and adjoining the city of Monroe, owned and occupied it up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1862, aged seventy-six years and six months. His first wife, Eliza A. Martin, was born April 14, 1815, died April 15, 1848. Mr. Navarre married for his second wife Jemima Knaggs, who was born July 26, 1811, died February 27, 1886, without issue. PETER NAVARRE, THE SCOUT The reminiscences of the pioneers in the "River Raisin country" are replete with interesting incidents in their own and their neighbors' experiences. They were thrown into companionship with men of marked characteristics, brave, generous and true. Narratives by men who came into the wilderness at a very early day almost invariably mention that intrepid Frenchman, whose name is a familiar one all along the frontier, and an historic one in the events which called into play the sagacity and the diplomacy of his race. This was Peter Navarre, whose life in the forest, very largely among the redmen and the coureurs de bois and the voyageur was an education along the lines which led to great usefulness, and made him one of the most picturesque figures of the early years of the eighteenth century. He was born in Detroit in 1745, his grandfather being the elder Robert Navarre, who came there in 1730, and who was deputy intendant, and royal notary in the service of the king of France, and was generally employed in some responsible public service. The king's dues were payable to his receiver; the intendant or local receiver and Robert Navarre's name is the first to be found in that capacity; the judicial or notarial duties were not heavy, but the receipts for the king were considerable, both in money and wheat, and the sub-intendant was curator for the public property, not strictly military. For a period of years intrigues with Iroquois chiefs went on, leading often to very dangerous situations, requiring great watchfulness and diplomacy on the part of the commander at Detroit. Hearing that the English had designs on the White river and the Wabash country, Céloron, a former commandant at Detroit, in 1743, allowed men and supplies to go from De troit to open a trade with a body of Senecas, Onondagas and others of the Five Nations who, to the number of about six hundred had settled there, and who professed friendship. Robert Navarre was sent out to examine and report upon the prospects, and was intrusted with important duties in connection. Peter, the grandson, inherited many of |