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GRAND BLANC 1833 FIRST TOWN MEETING IN GRAND BLANC
The Indian always stopped, as it was a place of Indian worship. Beside the trail, nearly in the center of this spot, stood a very peculiarly shaped stone, perhaps four feet high, erected by the Indians as one of their idols or gods. They called it Bab-o-quah. They never allowed themselves to pass this stone without stopping and talking a lingo with their god and having a good smoke from the red pipe of peace and friendship. This was always a matter of worship, and conducted with much solemnity on their part.
As we journeyed to and from Saginaw we always arranged our time so as to stop, bait our ponies to the fine grass and refresh ourselves from our lunch baskets, which we always carried well supplied, we having a regular old fashioned pioneer sit down lunch party talk over, by telling some funny incident some of us had experienced. Talk of pioneer society meetings now a days! They are nothing to the enjoyment we took in those days, as I see it.
In the early days of 1823-4 Capt. Jacob Stevens located and built a log house in Grand Blanc, one of the first in the town, his son Rufus building the first. Looking about for stone for the back of his fire place (stone were very few and far between in those days), he came across the Indians' Bab-o-quah, or their god of worship, loaded it on his. stone boat, drew it home and placed it in the back of his fire place. All went well for a time, but at last the Indians missed their idol, Bab-o-quah, and were quite excited about the loss. Searching about, they discovered where it was. They at once appointed a delegation to wait upon the captain and insisted upon his returning Bab-o-quah to its original position, saying to him that he had committed almost an unpardonable offense, and nothing would answer but returning the stone.
GRAND BLANC MICHIGAN
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