Sharing Personal History One Life at a Time
The Roots of a Legacy
Long before Gerrit Graveraet’s great grandfather, Isaac Graveraet, arrived in New York as a free trader, Jacob Harsen’s lineage was already rooted in the soil of the New World. Around 1624, Wolfert Gerritze Van Kouwenhoven, aka Couwenhoven[2], Jacob Harsen’s third great grandfather arrived as one of the first Dutch farmers on Manhattan Island. Wolfert was one of the original five farmers on Manhattan Island sent over by the Dutch West India Company.[3]
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In the first chapter of my new book, Pioneers of St. Clair County, Michigan, I share the early history of the southeast corner of Military and Water Streets in Port Huron, Michigan, which today is the site of the City Flats Hotel. The land where the hotel stands started out as a ten thousand square foot lot that was situated within an 80 acre plat of land in Section 10 purchased by Joseph Watson from the U.S. government in 1818 which he platted out as the town called Montgats. In 1835 he sold the first lot to Michael Kerley on which he built a store and wharf.
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Explore the history of St. Clair County in my new book, available through Arcadia Publishing and other online retailers (Amazon, BAM , Barnes & Noble, etc).
The rich history of St. Clair County has been shaped by the colorful people of its past. From the Kerley Lot to the City Flats Hotel, the corner of Military and Water Street in Port Huron is forever etched with the spirit of diverse and passionate citizens like Daniel B. Harrington and James W. Sanborn. The bankruptcy of John Johnston & Co. shaped the fortunes of a local family. Local lumbermen influenced the lumber industry not just in the county but across Michigan. The Radical Republicans contributed to the rise and fall of Congressman Omar D. Conger, and the controversial John P. Sanborn played an outsized role in local politics. Author Brenda L. Williams leads a historical journey into the captivating lives of early local luminaries.
In Part Two we learned about Gerrit Graveraet’s great grandfather, Isaac Graveraet. Continuing with this family, we will now explore a few of Isaac’s family ties and how they may have impacted and shaped the lives of his two sons, Andries and Hendrick Graveraet. In the late 17th century the Graveraet family surname was spelled Grevenraedt. For simplicity I have chosen to use the spelling of Graveraet unless the surname is used within a quote. I would also like to note that Andries is at times referred to as Andrew. [1]
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When I was a little girl growing up my grandmother used to take me and my sister with her on her weekly shopping trip to downtown Port Huron. As we made the drive down Military Street, we would admire the beautiful houses. My favorite home was located at 1719 Military Street. My sister and I called it “Cinderella’s Castle.” I would always ask my grandmother to slow down as we approached so I could get a good look at it. Excitement and joy would pulse through my veins as we passed. My imagination filled with fairy tale like images of a beautiful girl living within the walls of that place. Little did I know such a girl had lived there in the early 1900s. Her name was Mary Harrington Thomson Thaw.
Read moreBefore the fur traders of Albany made their way west to Detroit, before the convergence of the Harsen and Graveraet families on Harsens Island, there was Isaac Grevenraedt. As the patriarch of the Graveraet family in North America, Isaac’s story begins in New Amsterdam in the mid-1600s. His name appears on the famed Castello Plan, a map that recorded the homes of Dutch settlers along the tip of present day Manhattan Island. From civic leadership to private trade, Isaac carved out a prominent life amid the shifting powers of the Dutch and English empires, leaving a legacy that would eventually stretch to the Great Lakes frontier.
To understand the journey of Gerrit Graveraet, we must begin with the life of his great-grandfather, a Dutch trader and civic leader whose legacy shaped the generations that followed.
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After the British capture of Quebec from the French during the French and Indian War at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham on September 13th, 1759, it would take almost another four years for the French to cede all their territory in North America to the British under the Treaty of Paris on February 10, 1763. [1] By Great Britain’s Royal Proclamation of 1763, the French Territory of Canada, known as New France, would be renamed the Province of Quebec. This new province included the Great Lakes Region and the settlement at Detroit. [2]
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The demolition of the McMorran mansion on Military Street has left a stain on the Port Huron community. 50 years later the topic is still discussed. The vacant lot serves as a shrine of our mourning. Make no mistake about it, we are not the only ones who cared about the passing of this architectural masterpiece of the past. Henry McMorran cared greatly about the aesthetics of his residence and its upkeep too. In fact, on his death in July of 1929, there was work being done on the home. His final estate expenses included payment to W.J. Scott, contractor and builder, for general labor and parts and to J.A. Davison Co. for gallons of paint the colors of mahogany, red, dark slate and moss green.
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After the War of 1812, the federal government conducted surveys of land to be used for military bounties in parts of the Northwest Territory for soldiers who fought in the war. Each soldier to be given 160 acres. Edward Tiffin, Surveyor General for the Northwest, issued a letter dated November 30, 1815, to Josiah Meigs, Commissioner of the General Land Office, in which he reported unfavorable conditions in the Michigan Territory describing the land as “so bad that there would not be more than one acre out of a hundred, if there would be one out of a thousand, that would in any case admit of cultivation.”
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Dominion Line Logo, Source: Dominion Line Book of Views, 1900
SS New England, Twin Screw Steamship of the Dominion Line, Source: Dominion Line Book of Views, 1900
On January 17, 1900, Henry McMorran applied for a passport to take a winter cruise to the Mediterranean. The trip, known as the Clark Holy Land Excursion, was organized by Frank C. Clark of New York, the manager of the traveling tour. On February 1, 1900, Henry, with his daughters, Emma and Clara, and other Port Huronites, Reverend and Mrs. John Munday, Mr. and Mrs. H.G. Barnum and Mrs. William Jenkinson, embarked at Boston on the Dominion Line Steamship, New England, commanded by James McAuley.