In 1923, Stanley Newton published, “The Story of Sault Ste. Marie and Chippewa County.” This is part twenty-one of a continuing series about the history of Sault Ste. Marie and area in its early years. I have left punctuation and grammar intact. – Laurie Davis
Sent 21 Men to Union Army
At the outbreak of the Civil War, practically the entire population of Chippewa County was living in the village of Sault Ste. Marie, and a large part of that population was transient in character. The people of the Upper Peninsula were clustered in the mining centers and Chippewa furnished but twenty-one men to the Union Armies, as against 254 who went from Ontonagon and 460 from Houghton. Among the soldiers from the village was a grandson of John Johnston, Benjamin Johnston, who was killed at the second battle of Bull Run.
When the Reverend Thomas R. Easterday came here in 1864, the inhabitants of Sault Ste Marie numbered about 400. The local Presbyterian Church Society had been reorganized by the Reverend William McCullough in 1854, but after him there was no regular pastoral incumbent until Mr. Easterday took charge. The only other religious organization here was the Roman Catholic Church, with the Reverend Father Menet as parish priest and the Right Reverend Frederick Baraga as bishop of the diocese. The three general stores of the village were conducted by L.P. Trempe, Thomas Ryan, and M. W. Scranton.
Among the first members of Mr. Easterday’s church were County Clerk Guy H. Carleton, who had his office in the old warehouse of the American Fur Company on Water Street, and J. W. McMath, Collector of customs. Judge Goodwin, of Detroit, came up once a year to hold court, in the second story of an old store building on Water Street, opposite the Chippewa House. Peter Barbeau had retired as early as 1864, and on the organization of the village in 1874, he became its first president. He lived at the corner of Barbeau Alley and Water Street. Mr. Barbeau bought the old Indian Agency building after its tenancy by Agent James Ord, who succeeded Schoolcraft and lived there for a time. Barbeau Street, which once passed through his grounds, is named for him, and so is Barbeau Post Office, in Bruce Township.
Among Mr. Barbeau’s neighbors on Water Street in the sixties were Mr. M. W. Scranton, who also afterward lived in the Indian Agency building, and Mr. George W. Brown, Superintendent of the State Ship Canal. The outlines of the old raceway and the foundations of the water power mill were still visible nearby.
Church History
Mr. Easterday’s church, so small in its beginnings, grew nicely. A Sunday School was organized, with Mrs. Edward Ashmun, in charge of fourteen children. When Mr. Easterday was forced by ill health to resign his pastorate in 1880, he turned over to the Reverend Alexander Danskin a membership of one hundred in the church and nearly as many in the Sunday School. A good church building, commodious for the tines and costing nearly $3,000.00, had been erected and presented to the congregation by Mr. Charles T Harvey. This building stood on the lot just east of the site of the Murray Hill Hotel and was a familiar landmark to many now residing here.
His health recruited in the West, Mr. Easterday returned to this city and has made it his home. Always prominent in the religious and social life of the city and the county, he has held various public offices, and he has had a particular interest in the schools of the community. He was Commissioner of Schools for Chippewa County for many years and conducted the old village school, which stood at the northwest corner of Ridge and Maple Streets. Many old citizens of Sault Ste. Marie and Chippewa County have gone to Mr. Easterday’s school or enjoyed his paternal interest in the welfare of the country schools.
Mr. Easterday, who has been honored by his alma mater with D.D. and M.A. degrees, is now marrying young people whose parents and grandparents were united in marriage by him up to fifty years ago. His remarkable record of over three thousand marriages is believed to be unequaled in the country if not the world. He has thus been responsible, probably for more happiness – some will say misery, of course – than any other known living man.
Universally Beloved
Many decades of service to mankind have but served to confirm Mr. Easterday’s faith in his fellows, and the regard of his friends for him. He has been the guide, counselor, and friend of thousands. There is no other man in Michigan more esteemed in his own community. No other resident of Chippewa County is better known or respected than this venerable and universally beloved citizen of Sault Ste. Marie.
About the time of Mr. Easterday’s coming, the cemetery of old Fort Brady was located on what was known as Fort Street since renamed Armory Place. Graves occupied the ground where the Armory now stands. The village cemetery was in the space now bounded by Ashman, Ridge, and Spruce Streets and City Hall Alley, and it included, of course, the grounds and the site of the present City Hall. The garrison cemetery was in the same locality as an ancient burial ground of the Chippewa Indians.
Tangled Land Titles
A United States Land Office was doing business on Water Street, with Ebenezer Warner and H.R. Pratt in charge. Land titles in Sault Ste. Marie were in a somewhat confused state. Thomas Whelpley had made a survey and a complete plat of the village, but the de Repentigny claims had not been settled, and squatter tenures conflicted with private land claims and Indian treaty rights, especially on the shore lands which were becoming valuable. When Peter Barbeau took over the Indian Agency and grounds in the vicinity of the present Michigan Northern Power building, he claimed and took possession of an entire street, not graded then but known on the maps of the period as Chippewa Street. When it was completed in after years, it took the name of the former owner of the ground.
Other streets and avenues of modern Sault Ste. Marie named for pioneers, are Easterday Avenue, Bingham Avenue, Ashmun, Peck, Ord, Johnston, Dawson, Brady, Seymour, Brown, and Ferris Streets.
- Reverend Thomas R - February 3, 2025
- Teaching Future Leaders - January 27, 2025
- The First Sawmill - January 24, 2025
