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Michigan Towns Select Towns
We had some of them cooked, but found them, in our opinion, wholly unfit for the table. The remainder were accordingly permitted to pass on unmolested. In due time our friends arrived from the east,
and we took possession of our new house. There was, of course, much rejoicing. My husband was at work at a little distance from the house when they arrived. My sister, who saw him approaching, and who had never seen him in his new character of farmer, or in his farmer habiliments, exclaimed in some alarm, ' Yonder comes an Indian.' We were highly amused at her mistake, which was, however, very pardonable, considering his unshaven and sunburnt appearance, without hat or coat, except a kind of frock made of brown holland, which, at a little distance, gave him much the appearance of one of the natives, especially to one unaccustomed to seeing savages and backwoodsmen. The ensuing Fourth of July was celebrated at Marshall, and the oration delivered by the Hon. Isaac E. Crary, in a little grove near where the court-house now stands, and the dinner was provided by Mr. Vandenburg. The table was set under a bower built for the occasion. There was also a ball at Mr. S. Planter's, who then kept the old Exchange. Since that period the march of improvement and civilization has been onward. But one word more in regard to our village: At one time a plat was made out and recorded; many lots were sold, and a number of buildings, both public and private, were erected, but some of these passed into the hands of speculators, and, like many other paper cities of 1836, it has had, since that time, a rather retrograde movement.
Michigan
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