The French were doubtless the first Europeans to bring the fiddle to what is now Michigan. Michigan was once part of New France and the colony of Canada. In 1701 Antoine de la mothe Cadillac led a group of French and Algonquin to found the fort of Pontchartrain du Détroit in what is now Detroit, Michigan. Detroit is the French word for a “straight,” the geographical term, and is a reference in this case to the Detroit River. Michigan remained a French possession until 1763 when the British took Canada from France during the 7 Years War (commonly called the French and Indian War in America). Despite British political possession, Detroit remained largely French (with much Native American influence) into the early 1800s.
Not only was Detroit a French outpost, but the whole Great Lakes region and beyond was a French colony. French music and culture left its mark at places like Mackinac Island and other fur trading outposts, but nowhere else in Michigan could boast the French population that southeast Michigan did, from the region of Monroe, to Detroit, and even along the St. Clair River.
In Southeast Michigan, it was common practice among the French settlers to create “ribbon farms.” The farms were spread out along the river or lake, with each one possessing a narrow sliver of waterfront, with long and narrow farmland extending away from it. The farms were essentially long strips of land. No doubt, this increased the sense of community and safety along the river as the settlers lived close together and each had access to the waterways.
In later years, such as the later 1800s and the accompanying lumber boom in Michigan, many more French Canadians would migrate to Michigan, but this collection of historical records primarily relates to those first habitants (settlers) who migrated to southeast Michigan in the 1700s. In some cases, excerpts are included that might be from a later period but which show clear French influence. This is not an attempt at an article but is a collection of historical quotations that depict the historical milieu.
This collection of historical references to fiddling in French Southeast Michigan come from early county histories from the Michigan County Histories and Atlases Collection at the University of Michigan.
Title: Chronography of notable events in the history of the Northwest Territory and Wayne County.
Author: Wayne County Historical and Pioneer Society.
Publication info: Detroit,: O. S. Gulley, Bornman & co., printers, 1890
THE FRENCH OF DETROIT IN MY DAY.
BY WM. C. HOYT.
“I first saw the city of Detroit in the summer of 1835, when it was comparatively a small town. I tarried here a few days and then went on my journey westward. I improved the time when here by wandering around and walking over ground, then open fields, now covered with palatial residences and other magnificent edifices.
There were then four leading languages spoken here by four races of men, French, English, Scotch and Indian, the former largely predominating. The place then appeared to me like an old French town.
I saw this city again in I84I and came to Michigan to reside in 1842. In 1853 I became a permanent resident of this large, flourishing and beautiful City of the Straits. During my sojourn here I formed the acquaintance of that Gallic race, many of whose ancestors settled here one hundred and eightyseven years ago, leaving the land of the Rhine and its cheerful sunny clime in middle Europe. I could when on my first visit here more easily discern the difference between the Saxon and the Gaul than at the present day. The races are now more intermixed than they were then. The distinguishing characteristics between the two was in affability. The real Frenchman had, and has, more of that suavity or natural inbred politeness than the Saxon. The latter possessed, and still possesses, a rougher exterior and interior that he inherits from a ruder ancestry, and he could be easily picked out. Why, when walking along on the narrow plank sidewalks, the Frenchman, drunk or sober, would politely turn out and give me one-half of the way, while an Englishman, Scotchman, Yankee or Indian would often compel me to give him the entire walk. No wonder that I liked, and do like, the Frenchman. The French people, like all others who live on the planet, were divided into the rich and the poor. There lived here the wealthy French landholders-that is, wealthy in land-who owned large and long farms that fronted on the river and who retained them much to the damage or growth of the city. The poor were probably naturally improvident, but had the nack of getting a living some way and at the same time enjoying themselves. They lived in rude one-story cottages, scattered here and there over the city, many of which they did not own, but paid a small rent to the merciful landlord. I understand that evictions for non-payment of rent were not as common as now. All these people then seemed to enjoy life. They had cheap amusements (a poor Frenchman could not afford much for sport), such as dancing, playing cards, horse racing (in the winter on the ice), cock fighting, fishing, hunting, catching muskrats and pugilistic performances among the men and occasionally among the women. Dog fights frequently occurred. These entertainments seemed to keep up a spirit of hilarity and well entertained these volatile people. On my first visit here I witnessed a dance in an out-of-the-way locality, attended by a few of the lower order of French. The building was a one-story hut. The main room was occupied as a saloon, where whisky was dealt out for three cents a glass. Here were lively and supple dancers, male and female, enjoying themselves to their hearts’ content by “tripping the light, fantastic toe,” while a gentleman of color, adorned with a light tall stovepipe hat, a thin bad-fitting coat, a shirt collar that hid or came in close proximity to his ears, and pants strapped under and held down (the style then) by a huge pair of brogans, was sawing away on his old fiddle and keeping time with his feet and parts of his body. Oh, that was a lively dance! Up here! down there! cross over! all hands around! while the whisky-pickled colored musician was rasping his feline strings and smiling all over his charcoal countenance.
The city was then largely populated with a rarity of dogs, “mongrel, whelp, hounds and curs of low degree.” Every Frenchman had one or two, sometimes a half a dozen of these whelps, who barked and chased a stranger as he went along the way. Many were Indian, or of Indian descent. A pure-blooded one was a mean, sneaking looking thing who was seen following close by the heels of an aborigene. One night I was kept awake nearly all the sleeping hours by the barks, snarls and fights of these miserable animals. I was so excited and unnerved one night, that I would have thrown a dynamite bomb among them and created a small earthquake, if I could. The French pony and cart, seen bobbing and moving all over the city, were used by all classes and served a good purpose in their day. Ladies dressed in the hight of fashion went to church in these carts and were conveyed to the residences of their aristocratic friends sitting on the bottoms of these vehicles. The Campaus had large droves of small, tough ponies that grazed and picked up their living on the banks of the Detroit river. They cost nothing to keep and were sold for ten, twenty or forty dollars a head. Windmills were very common when I first saw the city. They were scattered all along the river banks. In these were ground the corn and other grains of the inhabitants. These have all disappeared, as well as the pony, cart, Indian and dog of lower caste. The whipping post is out of the way; the Franklin printing press moved with a hand lever would be a curiosity now; scrub pony races are not now seen; the French dancing parties have fallen through the trap door; you hear no more the voice of the Mons Crapo who swore at and whacked his pony along the streets and byways. These old things and odd old sights have disappeared. A more advanced people, possessing a higher degree of civilization, have trodden down and swept away these rude things and substituted instead the fleet, beautiful horse and stout percheron, the convenient and useful wagon and splendid carriage, that move on well paved streets, the pure-blooded hound, mastiff and St. Bernard; the steam printing press that throws out into the reading world its tens of thousands of sheets every hour, courts of justice where corporal punishment is not meted out to criminals, the electric telegraph that conveys ones thoughts around the world in the twinkling of an eye, the railroad car drawn by a steam engine, the sewing machine that makes a pair of pants in ten minutes; public schools where all children, white and black, can go together and receive a good education free of expense, and splendid church edifices which all people can attend and hear the gospel preached, without being questioned or sneered at on account of their faith.
The French then as now are Catholics; very seldom could be seen a protestant Frenchman. The mode of worship and Catholic creed have not varied much for ages. Perhaps they were a little more intolerant then than now. These people strictly adhered to their faith and were more faithful in attending church. They lived Catholics, went to prison Catholics, died Catholics and seldom were expelled from their church. These old French settlers have about all disappeared. They sleep in the Catholic cemeteries. I well remember the Chapotons, Campaus, Cicottes, Beaubiens, Godfroys, Piquettes, Coquiards and Berthelets. A few of their direct descendants are now living here and many are mixed with the Saxon and Indian races. Their names survive, though often pronounced with an English accent. They will remain on our records, will be seen on the street corner, “they are on ratione soli (part of the soil), and you cannot wash them out.”
Title: Detroit one hundred years ago
Author: Roberts, Robert Ellis, 1809-1888.
Publication info: [s.l. : s.n., 1884?]
“In social life the French characteristics predominated. Judge James May, an Englishman who resided here from 1778 until he died in 1830, said, “The citizens all lived then like one family (referring to the time he came), had Detroit assemblies, where ladies never went without being in their silks. The people dressed very richly. Assemblies were once a week, and sometimes once a fortnight. Dining parties were frequent, and they drank their wine freely.
After the day’s business was over in the summer the older citizens spent their evenings in social visiting, and by the younger in paddling their own canoes on the blue strait, by moonlight promenading on the green lawns beneath the extensive orchards of pear-trees, or along the gravel beach, or in dancing at the farm houses, by turn, which fronted the river, not more than four arpents apart, from the city to Grosse Point. A fiddle was in every house, and music would soon bring sufficient numbers together for a dance any pleasant evening.”
Title: Grosse Pointe on Lake Sainte Claire. : Historical and descriptive.
Publication info: Detroit, Mich. : Silas Farmer & co., 1886.
“Under the ancient French regime the “Cabaret du Grand Marais,” or Big Swamp Tavern, was located in this vicinity, near the shore, and was the resort of wedding, racing, and picnic parties throughout the winter months. The carioles drawn by fast pacing French ponies would glide merrily over the ice along the water’s edge. At the Cabaret would alight the bnlack eyed demoiselles with their chattering swains, and, after a toothsome lunch of (pate de gibier), game pie, or of succulent (poisson blanc) white fish, washed down by copious libations of (liquer de peche) peach brandy, they would join hands in “la dance ronde” to the inspiring strains of a cracked fiddle. Nowadays the best we can do is to demolish a dish of frogs on toast with such liquid accompaniments as appetite may suggest.”
Title: Early Detroit;
Author: Burton, Clarence Monroe, 1853-1932.
Publication info: [Detroit]: 1909.
Michigan Governor Woodbridge in a letter dated February 17, 1815:
“I received, a few days ago, a letter from Mr. H. Brush, enclosing one for his late cousin’s widow, Mrs. Adelaide Brush, of this place. I had heard much of this lady’s steadiness of deportment and general good sense. She is, by birth, an English subject, and an inhabitant of Canada. Her father now has of children and grandchildren in the British service, seventeen. Her connections and other circumstances have given rise to imputations against the good faith of her late husband: Whether they be well founded, I do not know. I called upon her soon after coming here. She lives in an old one story house just without the town, pleasantly enough situated, near the banks of the Detroit river. The farm is one of the best in the country, and has on it some of the best fruit. All the farms in this country are strangely laid out, having in general the width of from two to six square acres in front, and running two or three miles back. Mrs. Brush lives snugly and her house looks neat. She has some of the handsomest little children I have ever seen. She is simple and unostentatious in her manners, and ver cordially pressed me to return. I have since called upon her, took a ride of some eight or ten miles in her cariole with her, on the ice, and returned to tea. She gave me a good cup of tea, and I was pleased with her conversation. She seems to possess a substantially good mind. She is perhaps 278 or 30 years old. On the day of my ride with ehr, there was a “beefsteak” party to the river Rouge, about six or seven miles from here. It was composed of from fifteen to twenty gentlemen, officers and citizens. I did not of course, partake of it. Some of the Kentucky officers getting tipsy, an affray took place toward the conclusion of the party, and some black eyes were the consequence.
“Yesterday another ‘beefsteak’ party to the river Rouge was made up, composed of ladies and gentlemen, from fifteen to thirty, perhaps. We set out about twelve o’clock, each gentleman taking his lass, his bottle, his gook, his pye, his uncooked meat, his plates, etc. for himself and partner in his cariole. When I arrived (being with Judge May) they were dancing. We had two good fiddlers and enough American ladies to make up a dance. Being Lent, the few French ladies present only looked on. The gentlemen fell to assisting the servants, set the table and prepared a very good dinner. About three, the party sat down to dinner, and before dark we had returned home. In this party there was no gambling, which is seldom the case here. The inhabitants most generally play cards in all their parties, and the officers gamble a great deal. Formerly, I am told, the citizens of the place most usually had their River Rouge, or other parties of this sort once a week during the winter, or at least as long as the sleighing lasts. At this party I again saw Mrs. Hunt. She is perhaps 28 years old, she is still quite handsome, has rosy cheeks, and dances with great animation. Mr. Hunt, her husband, is but little older than shee–they are, perhaps as well the happiest, as they certainly are the handsomest couple in Detroit. They have been married several years, but have no children. She too, was originally a British subject. Mr. Hunt is a wealthy merchant of Detroit. He keeps a cariole worth a hundred dollars, perhaps, a plated harness and valuable horses. Mrs. Hunt, I think, improves on acquaintance.
I feel anxious to hear how you have borne up against the terribly cold weather, which, I am told, extended through Ohio, as well as this country, three or four weeks ago. Colder it has bgeen here, I am told, than has been known for sixteen or twenty years. Our prospects of quietness continue here. There is scarcely a possibility of an hostile attack here this winter, and but very little chance of any hostile disturbance in the spring or summer. Much, however, will depend on the military operation of next spring at the upper end of Lake Ontario. With respect to our ultimate establishment here, I have thought much, but can comet o no decided opinion. For pleasantness you will rarely have seen a country equal to this, but I am afraid this cold climate will not agree with you. Consumptions are not very prevalent, and very rarely occur, I am told. Another objection, and an important one, is the very high price of property here. I cannot buy any comfortable house here for less than about $5,000. What can we do? Our ultimate determination must be suspended I think, until my return here next fall. I think Mr. Palmer may get a very good farm, down on the river Rouge, within from five to eight miles from here, and that distance in this level country is nothing.
Having written to you so recently and so frequently, by private opportunities as well as by the mail, I think I shall retain this letter until next week. After that I may tell yoou more about our ball of the 22nd ins’t. It is with much pain that I mingle with these people so much, but I feel myself obliged to do it. Did I not do it, it would be ungrateful in me, and by them would be considered unaccountable austerity, but I shall have this to console me, that after I become acquainted, and my debut made, we together, can hereafter choose our own course, and then it will not be deemed ostentatious singularity. In the meantime, I do not consider myself at home. It is all fatigue duty with me. Mr. May’s house here, is most pleasantly situated. It commands an unobstructed and most beautiful view of the river. It has annexed to it perhaps two-thirds of an acre of ground and a barn. It is a one story gable roof house, having four rooms on the first floor, beside a hall or front entry running through the house and opening on a piazza. It has, I am told, some good chambers up stairs, and on each end a brick building perhaps 20 feet or more square, one used as a kitchen, the other as an office, and this building can, I suppose, be procured for less than $5,000, which here is considered cheap. The house is of stone and ais finished with plain neatness.
February 25th.
The face of things is quite changed–instead of glowing anticipations of ruined cornfields, burning houses, of scalped women and children, and all the horrors of war and desolation, we have the cheering news of peace, plenty and prosperity. This cheering intelligence reached here from Washington city in the most wonderful period of five days. A letter from the Postmaster General dated on the fourteenth (the day of the arrival of the treaty) reached me about nine A. M. on the 20th. Except with the military gentleman, the news was received with joyous acclamations–and most unfortunately too, it was followed by an immediate rise in real property. However, I will hope for the best. I received immediately after, the congratulations of Col. McDougal on the consequent certainty of making a large sum of money in the ensuing year in my collector’s office. If there should be much bustle in the collector’s office, it may detain me here a week or two later than I intended.
I was at the ball of the 22d. There were forty-nine ladies although it was Lent. Some went from the British side–although there were forty-nine ladies, yet there were so many gentlemen, that it was a perfect scramble for partners. The ladies in general, looked better than at the former ball. Mr. May and myself stayed until one half past four o’clock, and heard the morning gun before we left.”
Title: Historic Michigan, land of the Great Lakes; its life, resources, industries, people, politics, government, wars, institutions, achievements, the press, schools and churches, legendary and prehistoric lore.
Author: Fuller, George N. ed. (George Newman), 1873-1957.
Publication info: [Dayton, Ohio]: National Historical Association, [1924]
A political event being organized:
At another time he writes [ ca. 1792, webmaster insertion]: “Have proper booths erected for my friends at the hustings; employ Forsyth to make a large plumb cake, with plenty of fruit, &c., and be sure let the wine be good and plenty. Let the peasants have a fiddle, some beverage and beef.”
Jean Baptiste Beaubien, one of the founders of Chicago, and a noted fiddler at every dance in the early years of that village, was born in Detroit, September 5, I787. He was a cousin of Angelique Cuillerier.
Title: History of Monroe County, Michigan …
Author: Wing, Talcott Enoch, ed. 1819-1890,
Publication info: New York,: Munsell & company, 1890.
The houses on the Lasselle farms (afterwards Caldwell farms), as well as those on the river, were one story and a half log-houses, with a chimney built of clay. A very capacious fireplace was at one end of the building, a gable window at the other end, accessible by a rough ladder from the outside; a front door with a window on each side, and opposite it a lookingglass, with a fiddle on one side and a crucifix on the other.
Title: History of Monroe County, Michigan …
Author: Wing, Talcott Enoch, ed. 1819-1890,
Publication info: New York,: Munsell & company, 1890.
“ERIE TOWNSHIP.
When that portion of Monroe county that now comprises the town of Erie was first settled by white people is questionable. The Jesuit priests, explorers and voyageurs at a very early day, following the shores of Lake Erie from Maumee Bay, approached Bay Creek, and they were evidently favorably impressed with the general appearance of the country in that vicinity, finding there a stream that readily admitted the canoes and bateaux of large size, the only facilities then in use for traversing the newly discovered country of the nortlwestern territory. That they then established missionary stations and trading posts there can be no doubt, for when the Government of the United States first purchased by treaty with the Indians that portion of our territory, there were in different parts of Bay Settlement (now Erie) large pear and apple trees, many of which measured seven feet in circumference near the ground, and covered a surface of forty feet in diameter in the outspread of the branches, while the land bore the impress and appearance of having for years been under cultivation by a number of French families who were at that early day the pioneers of the country. These pioneers from the Canadas and Sunny France,” who preceded the Englishspeaking people in the settlement of this town, were a hardy class of people, with great-powers of endurance, and from living so many years near the savage tribes of Indians adopted many of their habits and customs, one of which was their strong aversion to work except when driven to it by stern necessity. Their wants were few, and being to a very great extent dependent upon the chase, they readily procured from the abundance of wild game, large and small, that abounded in the forests, skins and peltries which they exchanged for rude clothing, blankets, ammunition, coffee, whisky and. tobacco, and not until a very recent date have the buckskin shirts, fur coats, leggins and shoe packs given place by their descendants to the underwear, boots and shoes in use at the present time. It would be putting it very mild should I say that they were temperate in the use of whisky and tobacco, and unrestrained by Red Ribbon Societies or temperance advocates. The fur traders were careful to have an abundant supply thereof, as a large share of their profits were derived from their sale. If they needed meat they had but to load their carabines and away to the woods, game being abundant, and they were sure to return in a few hours with a black bear or one or two deer. Failing in this they would shoot a hog, carry it home, lay it on the ground, cover it with straw and other light combustibles, then set fire to it, singeing the hair and bristles off; they would then scrape it and turn it over and repeat the singeing and scraping process; that completed, they would hang it up and dress it. The next move would be to procure a jug of whisky, though it might involve the necessity of going miles for it. Neighbors were then informed and invited, and so long as the game or hog lasted there was no end of feasting and carousing. These excitements seemed to constitute the greater part of their enjoyment. Another custom worthy of notice was their mode of shoeing a horse or colt for the first time. As no pains were taken to render the animal gentle or kind with a view to such an end, the colt or horse was caught on the commons and handled enough to render it possible to lead him with a rope, and the greater the resistance the greater the excitement. The blacksmith, instead of holding the horse’s foot as smiths usually do in these days, would place the foot on a board some four or five feet long by four or five inches broad, which was always kept in the shop; this was held at an angle of 45 degrees. Every thing being ready, resort was had to the jug in the corner, then the process of paring the hoof preparatory to setting the shoe was commenced. This was always accompanied with a great deal of talking, laughing and coarse joking, as large crowds of men and boys always congregated on such occasions. The setting of the shoes was followed by a return to the jug in the corner. The whole operation often occupied the entire day. Dancing at their feasts constituted a part of the amusement, the music generally consisting of a violin, the fiddler knowing but one or two tunes, and these pitched to a high key, their idea of music being noise with very little harmony; they rarely danced’more than two or three figures, the rest of the time being given to frolicking. Another source of amusement with these simple people was horse-racing in the winter on the ice, with French ponies, the only kind of horses then in use here, a breed of horses of great powers of endurance, and frequently fast for the times.
In March, 1826, one of the most celebrated races of the times occurred on the border of Lake Erie, between the pacer White Stocking, owned by Isadore Navarre, and a French pacing pony owned by Stephen Duval; distance, two miles. The owner of White Stocking had, the year previous, challenged the world to run against him, being deemed the swiftest horse in North America, but in this instance was distanced by several rods. During the winter months contests calculated to test the powers of endurance of these French ponies were. of frequent occurrence, at times accomplishing one hundred miles on the ice between the rising and setting of the sun. The ponies were not fed before starting in the morning, but driven ten or fifteen miles before given a light feed, and then sped on their way again.
For their evening amusements they resorted to dancing and card playing. As they had but very little communication with the outside world, they lacked enterprise. They were satisfied with raising enough to make the ends of the year meet. The highest ambition of the young men was to own a French pony, with saddle and bridle.
In later years, in fact long after the war of 1812, the Roman Catholic religion prevailed to the exclusion of all other sects. The Catholic priests, for whom they had great respect and veneration, had great power and influence over them, influencing them to a strict observance of the holy days, of which there were annually over forty, attending church in the morning, while the afternoon was given up to various amusements. In the early days of the settlement, miscegenation was tolerated to a great extent. The original French had no scruples about intermarrying with the Indian squaws, and it was frequently the case the descendants had more of the characteristics of the Indian than of the French stock from whence they originated, but later intermarriage with the English-speaking people created a great change in this respect, and a marked difference is apparent. This was not encouraged by the priesthood, and numerous excommunications occurred for marrying outside of the pale of the Catholic church.”
Title: The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922;
Author: Burton, Clarence Monroe, 1853-1932.
Publication info: Detroit, : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1922-.
In the same year he sold to Lieut. Jehu Hay (afterwards lieutenant-governor of Detroit) “one spelling book 2/6.” He also sold Lieutenant Hay various other items, boys’ hats and shoes, two rings and some fiddle-strings.
Title: The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922;
Author: Burton, Clarence Monroe, 1853-1932.
Publication info: Detroit, : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1922-.
“(Cote du Nord Est), February 21, 1819.
“The Rt. Rev. Octavius Plessis,
Bishop of Quebec, Canada.
“My Lord:
“After having visited the different stations that form the Catholic Church of Detroit, I have reason to believe that the people’s inordinate love of social pleasures, evening gatherings and dances, was the cause of their immorality, idleness and extreme poverty. I protested with all possible vehemence against balls in particular. I succeeded, with God’s help, in convincing them that all or nearly all of them committed thereat a number of sins, that certainly it was for every one a proximate occasion of sin, and consequently that it was impossible to allow them. Perceiving that my words had made a salutary impression, I publicly forbade balls and reserved to myself absolution of the sin which would be committed by those who should lend their houses for such entertainments, and of any musician who should play at them. Moreover, I forbade the priests to give absolution unless the penitent promised to forego these gatherings. Thus far this peremptory action has succeeded perfectly, and last week a fiddler of my diocese refused an offer made to him of thirty dollars if he would play two nights at a dance at Malden. I am persuaded that the Canadians of your diocese could be led to adopt similar rules by threatening them with the same penalties; thus the law being a general one, its observance would be neither so difficult nor so odious as it is at present,, for now those so disposed who no longer have a chance to dance on this side cross over to yours, where they can dance with impunity, to compensate themselves for the deprivation at home. I am accused of strictness, of meddling, etc., in a word, the devil is leaving nothing undone in order to re-enter the kingdom, whence, with God’s help, I was fortunate enough to banish him. If you see that these balls can prudently be prohibited in your diocese under the same penalties, please authorize me by letter to announce the fact, and before I leave I shall establish the same rules on both sides of the river.”
Title: The history of Detroit and Michigan;
Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902.
Publication info: Detroit,: S. Farmer & co., 1884.
The various wars in which the settlement bore a part aggravated all existing moral disorder. The
War of I812 was especially detrimental and disturbing. Many, in both armies, were reckless and
dissipated to a degree that would not now be tolerated. In 1817 the Rev. Mr. Monteith said, “The profaneness of the soldiers exceeds anything I ever imagined. There is no Sabbath in this country.”
Rev. Dr. Alfred Brunson, who was here in I822, confirmed the general statement of Mr. Monteith, he said:
When I first came to the place, Sunday markets were as common as week-day ones. The French brought in their meats, fowls, vegetables, etc., on Sunday as regularly as on week-days. After selling out they would go to church, attend mass, and, perhaps, confess, and pay for absolution out of their market money, and then go home apparently in good spirits. Nor did the American and foreign population generally pay any more respect to the day, for they patronized the thing to the fullest extent. On this practice I proclaimed a war of extermination. At first it made a stir. But a young Presbyterian preacher, who was there, joined me in the denunciation of the practice, and, in a short time, the city council decreed that Sunday markets should cease, and in place thereof a market should be opened on Saturday night. This raised a great fuss among the French, who, from time immemorial, had thus broken the Sabbath, and, after market, gone to mass, then to the horse-races in the afternoon, and fiddled and danced and played cards at night; but they made a virtue of necessity, and soon yielded to authority and gave up the Sunday market, but adhered to the other practices.”
Title: History of St. Clair County, Michigan, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources, its war record, biographical sketches, the whole preceded by a history of Michigan.
Publication info: Chicago,: A.T. Andreas & Co., 1883.
Peter Yax comes next. He was a good Catholic, as were also most of the citizens on the
river. Father Richard visited them twice a year and frequently stopped with Yax. Yax had
three stalwart sons, all fiddlers. The Rev. Father thought there was too much dancing among the
young people and prevailed on them when they came together to sing and amuse themselves in
some other way. So he told Mr. Yax that the young people had agreed to amuse themselves
without dancing so much. Now, as the old man’s sons were all fiddlers, it rather interfered with
his financial interests, but he was obliged to submit. The next time tile Father came round he
said: ‘Well, Monsieur Yax, not so much dance among the young people, I suppose?” “No, Father, not so much dance, but the young men get the cards and gamble. They drink whisky and get drunk. They curse, they swear. No, not so much dance; oh, no! not so much dance.”
Title: Early days in Detroit;
Author: Palmer, Friend, 1820-1906.
Publication info: Detroit, Mich., : Hunt & June, [c1906].
“It was quite a busy locality in the early thirties. Mr. Dequindre, a brother of Major Antoine Dequindre, had an extensive store close by. The Detroit &.Black River Steam Mill Co. had their saw mill and lumber yard just west; and opposite the tannery yards were quite a number of saloons, a French dancing house and billiard room; also located in the vicinity were two or three other dance houses, and it was said a seeker after a chance and place to “trip the light fantastic toe” had only to get on top of any of the lumber piles nearby to determine where it was located by the sound of the fiddle. Those dances were always “on tap.””
Title: Early days in Detroit;
Author: Palmer, Friend, 1820-1906.
Publication info: Detroit, Mich., : Hunt & June, [c1906].
“Witness the fiddling and dancing on Sunday evenings whenever there was any little neighborhood of French people on the great wide porch, or beneath trees on the grass; or, if in the house with the doors and windows thrown wide open. And there were the prettiest and most mischievous-eyed French girls dancing away for dear life with the good-looking, frank-mannered voyageurs or coureurs de bois, in their red, yellow or green sashes, long black hair, and blue calico shirts.”
Title: Early days in Detroit;
Author: Palmer, Friend, 1820-1906.
Publication info: Detroit, Mich., : Hunt & June, [c1906].
“What Shoepac says in regard to the fiddling and dancing among the French habitants is true to life, as I can testify, having seen so much of it andi participated in so much of it. I think I have mentioned elsewhere how the young fellows in the early thirties used to get on the top of the lumber piles of the Detroit and Black River Steam Mill Lumber Co., near the foot of Beaubien Street, to locate the dance by the sound of the fiddle. That part of the town then was decidedly French and scarcely a night passed without one or two dancing parties. They were orderly, too; no nonsense permitted.”
Title: Early days in Detroit;
Author: Palmer, Friend, 1820-1906.
Publication info: Detroit, Mich., : Hunt & June, [c1906].
“When winter shut down and Jack Frost locked the river and lake in his icy embrace, cutting off all communication with the outside world, then the fun commenced. Young men and maidens were in abundance and sleighing, dancing and other festivities ruled the hour. I have attended many of these dances, and have often made one in a sleighing party and can testify to the fun that ruled.
The music; furnished by one or two violins-fiddles, they then called them-was quite all that was needed. French four and reels comprised about all the dances, no cotillion or round dances. Refreshments were not elaborate, but Were quite ample, consisting in nearly every case of cider, apples, doughnuts, venison dried and roasted, hickory nuts, black walnuts, etc., and sometimes a little whisky. I do not think the early pioneers of this section were much addicted to whisky, though the late George Moran, who kept a roadhouse in Grosse Pointe and whom many will remember quite well, once told me that his father made his own whisky and drank it fresh from the still. The old gentleman passed away at the age of 80 years. I asked George once how much whisky he thought his father had gotten away with during his lifetime, and he said about eighty barrels. The old gentleman drank it all himself. Just ponder on it! But he was an exception. These gatherings were usually kept up to the early hours of the morning. The ride home in the carry-all, behind the fleet pony, and your best girl, for the nonce, by your side, will long be Remembered.”
Title: Historic Michigan, land of the Great Lakes; its life, resources, industries, people, politics, government, wars, institutions, achievements, the press, schools and churches, legendary and prehistoric lore.
Author: Fuller, George N. ed. (George Newman), 1873-1957.
Publication info: [Dayton, Ohio]: National Historical Association, [1924]
Webmaster: ca. the days of Cadillac, beginning of the 1700s.
“I do know that Jerome Martiac dit Sansquartier had a violin, and I presume it was frequently called into requisition in the long winter evenings-but where the people danced I do not know, unless they used the church or storehouse for that purpose-for their dwellings were so miserably small that little room could be found for such a purpose. Frenchmen, however, are noted for their vivacious temperament, and it is not hard to believe that there being a will they soon found a way, and that on many occasions they “chased the glowing hours withflying feet” to the music of Sansquartier’s old violin.”
Title: The history of Detroit and Michigan;
Author: Farmer, Silas, 1839-1902.
Publication info: Detroit,: S. Farmer & co., 1884.
“All gatherings of young people were enlivened by music and dancing, and if no violinist was to be obtained there were not a few demoiselles who could lilt the dancing tunes so blithely and so well as to make the violin almost needless. When th.e English came the officers made sad havoc with the time and thoughts of the lively maidens of that time; and in the warp and woof of revolutionary days, the scalp-cry of the Indians, the drum-beat of the garrison, and the howl of wolves, were mingled the music of the ball-room and the gay laugh of merry dancers. Captain Grant, of the navy, wrote to a friend, “We hop and bob every Monday night at the council-house.”
Later on dancing parties or assemblies were arranged for by subscription, and several invitations to these gatherings, written on the back of playing cards, are preserved. Some of the amusements of 1789 are described in a letter written by Miss Ann Powell, who was here in May of that year. She says: As soon as our vessel anchored, several ladies and gentlemen came on board; they had agreed upon a house for us, till my brother could meet with one that would suit him, so we found ourselves at home immediately. The ladies visited us in full dress, though the weather was boiling hot. What do you think of walking about when the thermometer is above ninety? It was as high as ninety-six the morning we returned our Visits. Whilst we staid at the fort, several parties were made for us,- a very agreeable one by the 65th, to an island a little way up the river. Our party was divided into five boats; one held the music, in each of the others were two ladies and as many gentlemen as it could hold. Lord Edward and his friend arrived just time enough to join us; they went round the Lake by land to see some Indian settlements, and were highly pleased with their jaunt. Lord Edward speaks in raptures of the Indian hospitality; he told me one instance of it which would reflect honor on the most polished society. By some means or other, the gentlemen lost their provisions and were entirely without bread,’in a place where they could get none. Some Indians travelling with them had one loaf, which they offered to his Lordship, but he would not accept it; the Indians gave him to understand that they were used to do without, and that, therefore, it was less inconvenient to them; they still refused, and the Indians then disappeared and left the loaf of bread in the road the travellers must pass, and the Indians were seen no more. Our party on the Island proved very pleasant, which that kind of parties seldom do; the day was fine, the country cheerful, and the band delightful. We walked some time in the shady part of the Island, and then were led to a bower where the table was spread for dinner. Everything here is on a grand scale; do not suppose we dined in an English arbor! This one was made of forest trees and bushes, which being fresh cut, you could not see where they were put together, and the bower was the whole height of the trees, though quite close at the top. The band was placed without and played whilst we were at dinner. We were hurried home in the evening by the appearance of a thunder storm; it was the most beautiful I ever remember to have seen.”
Title: Early days in Detroit;
Author: Palmer, Friend, 1820-1906.
Publication info: Detroit, Mich., : Hunt & June, [c1906].
“Payee, who lived on the bank of the river, just above Judge Leib, was a jolly, rollicking Frenchman, and it was at his house more than any other up the river that the French dances came off, almost weekly, during the winter. They were liberally patronized by the young bloods from the city, who were always eager to bask in the smiles of the pretty French girls, whom they knew, and whom they were sure to meet. Have any of you that read these lines ever been to a French dance given in a French farm house, not in a tavern? If you have, then you know all about it. The large kitchen and living room, with its polished floor, quaint old-. fashioned furniture, the tall clock in the corner, the huge castiron plate stove of two, stories, brought from Montreal in the early days, in which a scorching heat could be engendered in short order. “Music in the corner posted,” which consisted of two violins. And then the gathered company, eager to begin, which they did always early in the afternoon, and kept it up until the small hours in the morning. No round dances, only Money-musk, Virginia reel, Hunt-the-grey-fox, French four, the pillow dance and occasionally a cotillion. It did not seem to me as though the feet of the dancers would ever grow weary moving to the inspiring music of “French four,” given on a violin, and as a Frenchman alone could give it. Refreshments were also ample, served in primitive style, of course, and of good quality. Then the going home with your best girl, if you had one. or the going home with any of the girls, was a pure delight. “In the lingering by the wayside and the tarrying on the door-step, in the light of the winter moon, there were many tender words spoken and solemn vows exchanged, and many a good-night kiss stolen before the pretty girl, her cheeks painted by the frost and rosy with the touch of her rustic lover’s lips, went blushing into the kitchen to say ‘good-night’ to the wife of the house and to dream of her joy in her little low chamber, where the same moon stole in that had witnessed their plighted vows on the doorstep.
“I can’t remember what they said,
‘Twas nothing worth a song or story;
Yet that rude path by which they sped
Seemed all transformed and in a glory
The snow was crisp beneath their feet,
The moon was full, the fields were gleaming;
By hood and tippet sheltered sweet,
Her face with youth and health was beaming
Perhaps ’twas boyish love, yet still,
O listless woman, weary lover;
To feel once more that fresh, wild thrill
I’d give-but who can live youth over?”
But there were other houses besides Payee’s where the inmates were quite as jolly. Abraham Cook owned the farm a short distance above Payee. All these had to be reached by the River road. Jefferson Avenue was then opened up only as far as the residence of the late C. C. Trowbiidge. I do not call to mind the names of the owners of the farms between the Cook farm and the water works, but think they were all of them of French descent. One of them must have been, as is evidenced by the small apple orchard, and the group of sturdy French pear trees yet remaining. The apple and pear trees are entirely unprotected, and it seems to me the owner, whoever he is, ought to look to it that they are not destroyed. They have survived the wear and tear of all these years, and deserve to live as long as possible.”
Title: History of Monroe County, Michigan …
Author: Wing, Talcott Enoch, ed. 1819-1890,
Publication info: New York,: Munsell & company, 1890.
“At the betrothal the marriage contract was signed by both parties, their relations and friends. The health of the newly married couple was drunk in many a bumper. This signing of names and stating professions or occupations on the marriage certificate and church register was a usual custom. As soon as the marriage ceremony was over each one got into his cariole, calash or cart, according to the season, and headed by the newly wedded pair, formed a procession, and passed along the principal streets, then racing, if roads were suitable. Dancing and the great supper took place at the home of the bride. The bride opened the ball with the most distinguished guest-the stately minuets and graceful cotillions, French four, with fisher’s hornpipe and the reel, concluding by filing into the supperroom by twos. Knives and forks were brought by each guest-often a spring-knife that would close and be carried in the pocket, or a dagger-knife suspended from the neck in a sheath.”
Title: Early days in Detroit;
Author: Palmer, Friend, 1820-1906.
Publication info: Detroit, Mich., : Hunt & June, [c1906].
“The music; furnished by one or two violins-fiddles, they then called them-was quite all that was needed. French four and reels comprised about all the dances, no cotillion or round dances.”
Title: Historic Michigan, land of the Great Lakes; its life, resources, industries, people, politics, government, wars, institutions, achievements, the press, schools and churches, legendary and prehistoric lore.
Author: Fuller, George N. ed. (George Newman), 1873-1957.
Publication info: [Dayton, Ohio]: National Historical Association, [1924]
“As soon as the marriage ceremony was over, each one got into his cariole, calash, or berlin, according to the season, and headed by the newly wedded pair, formed a procession and passed along the principal streets, then racing up to the Grand Marais, on whose banks stood a long, one-story building with a stone chimney at each end, rudely furnished with chairs and tables. Sometimes dancing and the grand supper took place here, but more generally the feast took place at the home of the bride; she opened the ball with the most distinguished guest, the stately minuets and graceful cotillons, Fisher’s hornpipe, and the Reel a Huit, concluding by filing into the dining room by twos.”
Source: Detroit one hundred years ago by Robert Ellis Roberts, 1809-1888.
“These lands are now being drained by ditches from which the water is pumped by wind-mills; but only a few years ago the road we are now passing over was “navigable for small craft” during several months in the spring. Under the ancient French regime the ” Cabaret du Grand Marais,” or Big Swamp Tavern, was located in this vicinity, near the shore, and was the resort of wedding, racing and picnic parties throughout the winter months. The carioles drawn by fast pacing French ponies would glide merrily over the ice along the water’s edge. At the Cabaret would alight the black eyed demoiselles with their chattering swains, and, after a toothsome lunch of (pate de gibier), game pie, or of succulent (poisson blanc) white fish, washed down by copious libations of (liqeur de peche) peach brandy, they would join hands in “la dance ronde” to the inspiring strains of a cracked fiddle. Nowadays the best we can do is to demolish a dish of frogs on toast with such liquid accompaniments as appetite may suggest. Away off on the distant Pointe we notice a white Lighthouse. It was built in 1838 and rebuilt in 1875. It shows a fixed white light varied with red flashes, the light being visible for thirteen miles. The tower is fifty – one feet high. This locality is known as “Presque Isle” (almost an island), and otherwise as Windmill Point, from the ancient stone windmill whose ruins now lie along the shore. Opposite Windmill Point is “Isle au Peche” (Fishing Island), called by some Peach Island, perhaps because there was never a peach on it. It is said that during the summer season Pontiac made it his home.”
Source: Historic Michigan, land of the Great Lakes; its life, resources, industries, people, politics, government, wars, institutions, achievements, the press, schools and churches, legendary and prehistoric lore, George Newman.
“In social life the French characteristics predominated. Judge James May, an Englishman who resided here from 1778 until he died in 1830, said, ” The citizens all lived then like one family (referring to the time he came), had Detroit assemblies, where ladies never went without being in their silks. The people dressed very richly. Assemblies were once a week, and sometimes once a fortnight. Dining parties were frequent, and they drank their wine freely.” After the day’s business was over in summer the older citizens spent their evenings in social visiting, and by the younger in paddling their own canoes on the blue strait, by moonlight promenading on the green lawns beneath the extensive orchards of pear-trees, or along the gravel beach, or in dancing at the farm houses,, by turn, which fronted the river, not more than four arpents apart, from the city to Grosse Point. A fiddle was in every house, and music would soon bring sufficient numbers together for a dance any pleasant evening. The following order was recently found among the papers of the late patriarch, Joseph Campau. JANUARY 17, 1807. Mr. Campau will please furnish for the Grand Marie Party on Saturday next, provided there is carioling, a qr. of roast beef and a pair of fowls ready for the spit. MAJOR ERNEST. JAMES ABBOTT. James Abbott was brother-in-law of Gen. Whistler, U. S. A., and postmaster at Detroit for a quarter century until 1832, and manager of the American Fur Company’s business in Michigan for same time. The following description of the ” Grand Marie Party ” is from Mrs. Sheldon’s History: “In winter, when a vast sea of ice separated them from their eastern neighbors, and their Indian allies were far in the depths of the forest engaged in the chase, the denizens of the fort and of the crowded town gave themselves up to unrestrained pleasure seeking. Three dr four miles above the city was a large marsh called by the French Le Grand Marais. It extended down to the river brink, and when the autumnal rains came the entire surface was submerged, and the wintry frosts soon converted it into a miniature sea of glass. In the absence of sufficient snow for sleighing, the Grand Marais, which could be readily gained by the icy margin of the river, was a favorite drive for the citizens; and late in autumn the young men of the town would erect on its border a long one-story building, with stone chimneys at each extremity, and furnished with rude tables and benches. Every Saturday morning during the long cold winter, carioles, filled with gay young men and laughing girls might be seen gliding over the glassy surface of the ice-bound river, or, if there was snow, flying along the river road, where now extends the broad and beautiful Jefferson avenue, each finally landing its freight of life and beauty at the Hotel D u Grand Marais. The box seats of the cariole were always well filled with mysterious baskets and packages, which were speedily transferred to the aforesaid long tables, and soon the rattling of the dinner service was heard in the lulls of the gay chatter of the French girls; and the aroma of the, fragrant Mocha escaped into the frosty air in delicate smoke wreaths-an incense of anticipation to the coming repast. As soon as the dinner was over, the tables and benches were removed, and dancing commenced, which continued until the booming of the evening gun at the fort warned the merry party that “The evening shades might be but vantage ground For some ill foe.” The next day, Sunday, after morning mass, the gentlemen were accustomed to resort to the Grand Marais and spend the day in carousal and feasting on the remains of yesterday’s store. Sleigh riding on the ice, and ball and parties in town, filled up the week’s interim. The summer’s earnings scarce sufficed for the winter’s waste. “
