The following news story and photos were taken from Kathleen Firestone’s book, “Suttons Bay, Peshawbestown and Bingham Shores of Grand Traverse Bay.”
1850s
Suttons Bay is a perfect example of how early settlers built docks, docks brought commerce, new businesses were established, the town grew to add young families while still keeping names of its pioneers.
Before any white settlers came to live in the Suttons Bay area, the Leelanau Peninsula was governmentally attached to Grand Traverse County. The first land survey was as early as 1839; and after a re-survey, Suttons Bay and Bingham were included in the larger township of Centerville, in 1856.
In 1863 Leelanau was detached from Grand Traverse County, and the Suttons Bay and Bingham settlements and outlying acres became the township of Bingham and shared Leelanau County with eight other townships.
When the bigger Centerville Township was still in place, government surveyors noted, “The southwestern portion of this township is hilly and broken. The northern and eastern portions are somewhat elevated but level on the summit. The soil is generally of excellent quality and timbered with sugar maple, beech and elm. Nearly every section in the township is well watered and small streams and springs of pure water. The swamp, noted in Section 33 is mostly timbered with white cedar, affording a large amount of fencing material. Soil is rich black loam and would make, if cleared, excellent meadow.”
It’s obvious that surveyors saw the monetary value of timber and how it could help build communities, and the newly cleared land would be suitable for homesteads and farming. When white settlers came to the shores of Grand Traverse Bay, there were already Native American families in small groups, traveling on foot and by canoe. When Europeans arrived, the Peshawbe/Peshaba family became acquainted with Rev. Peter Dougherty and his mission community near the end of what came to be named Old Mission Peninsula.
The Indigenous people had seen schooners built by white settlers, and Chief Ben Peshawbe or son Gabriel built at least one schooner near the south end of Old Mission Peninsula. The Peshawbe family had a vessel named Wabezee (other spellings Wabeze, Wahbu- see, Wabizee, Wilbizee, Muguzee) that was 60 feet long with deck and cabin. This little boat was known around Grand Traverse Bay as one which helped settlers to get to their destinations. Around 1853 Chief Peshawbe had another boat named Eagle.
Gabriel’s mother was Agatha Kweshmeggaka. Pay-shaw-bay was another spellling for his family’s surname. Names for native people were spelled a variety of ways, because whoever was doing the writing spelled it the way it sounded to them. Spell-guessing also occurred with European settlers’ names, at times.
Some historical writings say in 1852 a group of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians from L’Abre Croche (Harbor Springs) founded a permanent settlement north of present-day Suttons Bay. But residents in Leelanau placed a marker stating Peshabatown was settled by an Ottawa-Chippewa Tribe in 1845. Fr. Ignatius Mrak assumed leadership of the Catholic mission in 1855. They called the place Eagle Town. Another missionary, Fr. Angelus van Paemel, soon followed and helped open a church and school in 1858. The people tapped maple trees for producing syrup. They planted gardens, trapped and fished. Baskets name from strips of black ash tree bark were sold to settlers and later tourists. Reverend Philip Zorn served along Grand Traverse Bay in 1869 and 1870 and renamed the settlement Peshwbe or Peshawba. The official M-22 highway sign marks Peshawbestown.
The Pre-emption Act of 1841 gave “squatters” the right to purchase federal land if they had been living on and developing it for at least 14 months.
Leelanau was declared a Michigan county in 1854. Settlers had been buying property for $1.25 per acres, and land barrons did the same. To stop speculators from taking large amounts of land, with no intention of living or building on it, the Graduation Act of 1854 offered land for 50 cents per acres, with certain conditions. A person or family had to live on the land or adjacent to it for a period of five years, while adding improvements such as a home, barn, other outbuildings, and/or crops in the field. After five years the resident had to show “proof” before receiving a patent assuring title to the land, issued by the General Land Office in Washington and mailed to the office in Traverse City.
