charge of the school when present. The teachers were Mrs. Oscar Stevens, Mrs. Jacob Barns, Mrs. Hathaway, Mrs. Goodale, and, later, Miss Belle Hannah. At the opening session Mr. Johnson prayed, "Lord, send some one to help the women." To those engaged in the work, it was a pleasing circumstance that among the children gathered into the school were all of the eight pupils who had constituted the classes in the log schoolhouse five years before.

In 1859 the school was prosperous. Mr. E. L. Sprague was superintendent. In the spring Mrs. Goodale and Miss Hannah collected, in four hours' time, partly from the men employed in the mill, about $30, for the purchase of books. That year the school took four Sunday school papers, published by four different denominations. Three were paid for by the school, and Mr. Sprague donated the fourth. As at that time the postage on papers had to be paid at the office of delivery, Dr. Goodale relieved the school of that item of expense by assuming it himself.

This Sunday school seems to have been truly non-sectarian and undenominational, members of several churches and persons not members of any church working harmoniously together. It was the parent of the several denominational Sunday schools that have since graced Traverse City.

Dr. Goodale, recently from Vermont, whose arrival at Traverse City in the spring of 1853 has already been noticed, had come to keep the boarding-house of Hannah, Lay & Co. It was a part of the contract between the doctor and the firm, that his elder daughter, Helen, then in the 15th year of her age, should teach school. Her compensation was to be a dollar a week and board, and the firm promised that if the people failed to pay the full amount they would make up the deficiency.

As yet there had been no legal organization of a school district. There was no vacant house suitable for the accommodation of a school. The best that could be done was to put in order an abandoned and dilapi dated log building, which had been constructed by Mr. Spencer and used by him for a table, while getting out logs and timber, in the winter of 1851-52. It stood in a wild locality, some distance from the main part of the settlement, in what is now the eastern part of the village. The exact location is lot 3, of block 12, on the south side of Front street, a short distance east of Boardman avenue. Under the supervision of Mr. Lay, who manifested much personal interest in the enterprise, the house was repaired, and furnished with such appliances as circumstances would admit of, at the expense of the firm. The door was in the west side. There was a small window near the door, and another at the east side of

the room. A stove stood in the middle. The teacher's desk was near the west window. A blackboard hung against the wall. The desks were neatly made, but not painted. The floor was loose and open, and on one occasion teacher and girls suddenly gathered their skirts closely about them and sprang upon the seats for safety, as a snake, with threatening looks but harmless intent, was seen leisurely coming up through one of the chinks. The books were such as the pupils happened to have. Reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, and geography were taught, in the old-fashioned way.

While teaching, Miss Helen lived with her father's family in the boarding-house, the expense of her board being defrayed by the patrons of the school or assumed by Hannah, Lay & Co., according to the contract. It was something of a walk to the schoolhouse. On the direct route, there was no bridge over the river, except the timbers of the boom, near the saw-mill, which served as a narrow foot-bridge, not very safe or pleasant for a timid woman to cross, but we are told that the men in the mill, with respectful gallantry, were always on the alert to lead the schoolma'am

over.

The following list comprises the names of the pupils who attended this first school: George, John, Thomas, and Elizabeth Cutler; Almond and Ellen Rutherford; Augusta, Clarissa, and Lucius Smith; Elizabeth Whitney; an adopted son of the Mrs. Churchill who had recently been buried; Albert Norris. The next summer the school was increased by the addition of James, William, John, and Richard Garland; Mellissa, Emma, and Anna Rice, and a girl whose name has been forgotten. Elizabeth Cutler was the youngest pupil; Albert Norris was the oldest, being about a year older than the teacher.*

After the close of her first term of school in the fall, Miss Helen went to Chicago, where she spent the winter in study. Returning the following spring, she was again employed to teach in the log schoolhouse, at an advance of 50 cents per week on the former wages.

At this point we take leave of Miss Helen Goodale, the first schoolma'am of Traverse City, with the statement that she afterwards became Mrs. T. A. Hitchcock, and, respected by a large circle of acquaintances, has lived to see her humble schoolhouse swept away by the onward march of improvement, and a populous and thriving town occupying the locality of the scene of her youthful labors.

During Miss Goodale's absence in Chicago, in the winter of 1853-54, Miss Helen Gamon, an experienced teacher, who was visiting her sister,

*Undoubtedly this was the first school ever taught in the lower peninsula north of Manistee, except those connected with the Indian missions, and Mr. Wait's on board the schooner Madeline.

Mrs. Holton, taught the school. It was kept that winter in the old Boardman boarding-house, it being more easily reached by the children than the log schoolhouse, when the snows were deep. In the winter of 1854-55 the teacher was Farwell Campbell, the old boarding-house being again occupied by the school. A school district had been organized, and Mr. Campbell was employed by the legal authorities. It does not appear who was the teacher in the summer of 1855. The following winter the school was taught by a Mr. Enos, in a building which, at the time of the present writing, constitutes a part of the hotel known as the Front Street House. In the winter of 1856-57 the school was kept in a new district schoolhouse which had been built, Theron Bostwick being the teacher. Before dismissing the subject of the early schools in the vicinity of the head of the bay, it is proper to mention one other, so unique in its inception and execution as to stand as a curiosity in the history of educational institutions.

In November, 1851, five young men arrived at Old Mission, in the schooner Madeline, with the intention of wintering in the vicinity. Three of them were brothers, named Fitzgerald. A fourth was called William Bryce. The name of the fifth, who was employed by the others as cook, has been forgotten. The five were all good sailors, and three of them had been masters of vessels during the past season, but all were deficient in education. None of them was even a tolerable reader, and one of the number was unable to write his name. An eager desire to learn was the occasion of their coming. Here in the wilderness they would be removed from the allurements that might distract the attention in a populous port. It is probable, also, that diffidence arising from a consciousness of their own deficiencies made them unwilling to enter a public school, where their limited attainments would be displayed in painful contrast with those of younger pupils.

At Old Mission, the man who had been engaged as teacher failing to meet the contract, Mr. S. E. Wait, then only 19 years of age, was employed, at $20 per month and board. Bryce and the Fitzgeralds were to pay the bill, the cook receiving his tuition in compensation for his serv ices. The Madeline was brought around to Bowers' Harbor, and securely anchored for the winter. The after-hold was converted into a kitchen and dining-room, and the cabin used for a school room. Regular hours of study were observed, and the men voluntarily submitted to strict school discipline. Out of school hours they had plenty of exercise. in cutting wood and bringing it on board, to say nothing of the recreation of snowballing, in which they sometimes engaged with the delight

of genuine school boys. The bay that year did not freeze over till March. Previous to the freezing the wood was brought on board in the yawl; afterwards it was conveyed over the ice. Except by way of Old Mission, to which occasional visits were made, the party was entirely cut off from communication with the outside world.

The progress of Mr. Wait's pupils in their studies was a credit to themselves and their youthful teacher. Their after history is not known, except that four of them were captains of vessels the following season.

CHAPTER XIV.

First Settlement of Leelanau County John Lerue-Rev. George N. Smith-The Colony at Northport-First Fourth of July Celebration— How to Make a Flag--Scant Supplies-Glen Arbor-Leland-Going to Mill.

While the events narrated in the preceding chapters were occurring in the vicinity of Old Mission and Traverse City, men were beginning to penetrate the wilderness and establish homes at other points in the Grand Traverse country.

In 1847 John Lerue came from Chicago to the Manitou islands in search of health. At that time there was a pier, or wharf, on each of the two islands, where passing steamers used to call for wood, the one on the north island being owned by Mr. Pickard, that on the south by Mr. Barton. On the north Manitou were two fishermen, without families. The light-house was kept by a man named Clark.

There were no white men at that time in Leelanau county. Farther south, at the mouth of the Betsey river, there was living a white man named Joseph Oliver, with an Indian wife, who supported his family by trapping and fishing. There were no Indians living on the Manitous, but they frequently came there to trade.

Finding the climate favorable to his health, Mr. Lerue commenced trading with the Indians, and the next year moved his establishment over to the mainland, locating at what was then called Sleeping Bear bay, but now Glen Arbor, thus becoming the first white inhabitant of Leelanau county.

Rev. George N. Smith, a minister of the Congregational church, had spent ten years in missionary work among the Indians of Black river, in Ottawa county. A colony of Hollanders had recently settled in the

vicinity of the mission. What was the real nature of the trouble does not appear, but the proximity of the newcomers made it in some way unpleasant for Mr. Smith and the Indians. Perhaps the action of the government with regard to the Indians also had an influence in determining Mr. Smith's future course. At all events, he made arrangements to remove the mission to the Grand Traverse country. Visiting the bay in the summer of 1848, in company with some of the mission Indians, he selected a location on the shore, some distance north of the site of the present village of Northport.

In the meantime the government gave orders to James McLaughlin, Indian farmer for the Waukazoo band of Ottawas, at Old Wing, Allegan county, to remove to Grand Traverse bay. In obedience to these orders, Mr. McLaughlin left the mouth of the Kalamazoo river on the 27th day of May, 1849, in the schooner H. Merrill, of which he was owner. There were on board his own family, consisting of six persons counting himself, and that of his brother-in-law, William H. Case, consisting of three persons. Entering Black lake, the vessel proceeded up to the place where the village of Holland is now situated, and received on board Mr. Smith and family, increasing the number of passengers to 15. After a tempestuous voyage, the vessel passed Cat Head Point on the morning of the 11th of June, and entered the bay.

Mr. Smith and family were landed, in a drenching rain, at the place previously selected. The prospect was gloomy enough to dismay the stoutest heart. There were no whites in the vicinity, and only a few Indians. A little way back from the beach rose a barrier of interlaced cedars and hemlocks, apparently impenetrable, and they knew that beyond it there stretched away an unbroken forest to the lake shore on the west, and to the distant settlements of the lumbermen at the mouth of the Manistee and on the Muskegon in the south. Both Mr. Smith and his wife were much depressed by the influence of their unpropitious surroundings, even doubting for a while whether they had really been acting under divine guidance. But the die was cast. There was no opportunity for retreat.

Mr. McLaughlin not liking the location chosen by Mr. Smith, sailed along the shore to the mouth of the little creek that runs through the village of Northport. Here the vessel was anchored, and preparations were made for building a house. It was a common log house, 19 feet square on the outside. The logs were hauled to their place and hoisted to their positions in the building by the aid of a tackle brought on shore from the vessel. This first house in what is now the village of Northport,