The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1866-07-27

nabltontS WoIc flOhCn, was hoN hVthVu uu-
I'll l7I6; after the country came under
Great Britain.
Tue British Government got possession
Of Canada enl all these posts and settle
ments. by conquest, in 1863; France relin-
quished all claim to them by treaty, in l763
There was q lradihg-post and fort at the
foot Of the Rapids, on this river, occupied
by the Ftenoh, aud was taken possession OF
by the English, at this time.
PoSrIAc.
Pontiac, q disting guishod chief and war.
rior Of the Ottawa tribe of Indians, was a
warm friend to the French, ani dislked to
have the English in possession Of the oouu.
try. When he found the French no longer
able to resist tho English, he conceived the
project of forming a confederation of all the
Indian tribes not in the interest Of tho Eng
lish, to retako these posts. His plan was,
to make simultaneous attack on all OF
them.
He succeeded in taking nine Of them. All
were taken but two-Detroit was Gue not
taken. lie succeeded in taking most of
them by strategew. Ono of the nine taken,
was the post at the lower end of Mamnee
City, known in later years as the old Brit
ish Fort, Miami.
Thatcher, in his lives Of distinguished
Indians, states that it was taken on the Sth
Of July, 1868. lie uses the following Ian.
guago in his account Of it: "The com
manding officer at Maumce was betrayed
by squaw, who by pileous entreatics
persuaded him to go ont with her some
| two hundred yards to the succor, as she
said OF q wounded man, who was dying
The Indians waylaid and shot him
Pontiac, commanded IN person the attack
| IN nntrOit hut failad 10 take IL
lie made q regular siege of the place, in
hopes to starvo out the garrison. 1t was
very near successful.
MILITARY OPERATIONS.
General Bradstreet, in command of
! British force, on his way from Niagara to
the relief of Detroit, in the following year,
l164, sailed up the Naumee River and
destroyed the cornfelds and crops OF the
Indians on its rich bottom lands.
AS no mention is made in the account Of
that expedition of any Fort here at that
time, it ought tot to discredit Thatcher 4
account of ono having been taken from the
English in the previous year but to leave
it more probable that the garrison was
massacred, although he omitted to state il,
1t, however. proves that the river bottom
lands were titled ut that timo.
Major Campbell, who commanded the
British Fort Miami at the foot Of the Rapids
in 1894, which is supposed to OCCUPY the
sar ground Of the French Fort, rel elled
the charge made 10y General Wayne that
it had been erected since the commence.
ment of hostl,ties hetween the United
States AVID Indians. He claimed it's con-
slruction at an earlier date, without naming
the date. sr
We should impute to the French, wan
of military sagacity if we were to donb
they had constructed fort at the foot o.
the Rapids at the time cr Immediately after
they established settlement at Vincenncs
Although no mention was made of it at tn,
time of that settlement, they would no
have neglected to occupy and hold so i'm
pOrtant point
1t was the very gateway of travel be
tween the deep waters of the Lake and thu
shoal waters OF the river, where they haC
to change larger for smaller boats, or take
to pack horses. 1t was the point ol reship
,nent ior. them on their route to tho Wahasl
Valley and OF course, they would cstat
lsh post hero, rs soon as at Fort Wayn,
or Lafayette.
When the American settlers comncnce'
the settlement of the Northwest Tcrritor.
under the encouragement of the UniteC
States Government, they found French in
h ,bitanis livl on all these routes from th
} Lakes to the Mississippi River.
When the American settlers first cam
on this river, they found Frenchmen here
The descendants of these French cannot tel
from any records they have kept whei
their ancestors came.
In the Historical Collections of Ohio, b,
Henry Howe, it is stated that the Freucl
had a trading post at the lower eud o
Maumee City, ih 1850, but think there j
no evidence, drawn from the early histor,
OF the French settlements, that will war
rant fixing the establishment OF this pos
! prior to l70l.
PETER BuRDo.
Peter Burdo, Frenchman, of Maume
City, about 81 years of age, says that h
/ came to Maumee III the spring OF 1878, an'
has resided there ever since.
His father, Louis Burdo, went to For
Wayne to live, about 1884. He lived ther
, and at Detroit until 1906, when he went t
, the mouth of the river at Manhattan an'
, lived until 1912. when he had to leave o
account of the hostlites of the Indians
3 He returned in the spring of 1878 and SCI
tied at Maumee. Peter Burdo was an il
FAINT child, when his father went to Mai
| haitian in 1906. lie says that when he wa
! boy hs heard old French inhabitants sa
they could not tell when their ancestor
came on the river to live, nor could the
tell when they did not live here.
I. He had talked with some who said the.
t had lived here as long ago as the Revolt
tionary war.
No business was ever transacted accord
ing to statute law until the year 1917.
MARRIAGES.
From time immemorlal, "a priest used {
come from Detroit once a year, and travt
through to Vncennes. He was the La,
for the people, performed the marriage Gel
emonles and regulated matters generally.
, If a couple wanted to get married at am
time when the priest was not hr', tn
, parties went to Detroit to get married o
got their friends together with the sam
, formal ty as at a wedding, an called O
some res e;table pelsjn TO read chapter i
the b ble aud give them good advice. The
were required TO promise to get marrie'
, when the priest came, and on their g.
promising were permitted to live togethe
as husband and wife. The priest on hi
annual tour would cousummate these irreg
ular marriages.
: INDIo ATIoNs OF TIE VERY EABLY OCCUPATION o
THE VALLEY
As further proof that this Valley was oc
: cupied at very early period, by white resi-
dents jan oldwell was discovered at the uppe
end OF Perryshurg by some woykmeG, Will
. digging the Perrysburg Hydraulic Canal
about the year lS45. The well was founi
, filed up, aud its top some feet below
the surface Of the ground. 1t was wallet
, up with brick, formed by soctnral lines il
the usual manner for well brick. Th
( bricks were of superior quality.
/ NJ I,p uyl,t