This listing is for hardbound book owned by William Lewis, Yankee Springs Member of the Legislature of Michigan.

Joint Documents of the Senate and House of Representatives at the annual session 1846.

It was published by Bagg and Harmon and belonged to William Lewis from Yankee Springs, Michigan.

Measures approx 5.5"x8.75".  

Inscribed with owner's name.

Biography
Kept a tavern at Yankee Springs, Barry, MI

The Chief Noonday Chapter of the North Country Trails Association "Yankee Springs Inn...

Did you ever go out to Grand River, from Detroit to Kalamazoo, in a wagon without any river, through a country that looks very new?"

If you're hungry, and wish for a dinner, breakfast, supper, and lodging to boot; if you're a Turk, a Christian, or sinner, Yankee Springs is the place that will suit."

"The landlord's a prince of his order, Yankee Lewis, whose fame and renown, far and near throughout Michigan's border is noised about country and town."

George Torrey, Sr., 184

William C. Lewis, a native of New York, and an early pioneer of Barry County, Michigan, arrived in Yankee Springs in 1836, a few months after his brother Calvin, who had already begun construction of an oak and tamarack log cabin. William purchased the property from his brother, and expanded the cabin into an inn that he called the Mansion House. The previous year, however, a group of Massachusetts men had stopped there, and had carved the name "Yankee Springs" on a tree by a nearby spring. Although dubbed the Mansion House, the place quickly became known as the Yankee Springs Inn, and the proprietor as Yankee Bill.

Today only a clearing and the spring remains, but the North Country National Scenic Trail crosses the site of that once celebrated inn. It's location lies just west of where the trail crosses Norris Road, and southwest of Yankee Springs State Park.

Yankee Bill brought his family (wife, son, three daughters, and an adopted daughter) with him in 1836. After traveling in a covered wagon through Canada to Detroit, the family headed west across an undeveloped Michigan.

In 1903 one of the daughters, Mary Lewis Hoyt, recalled of that trip; "After leaving Detroit the road was mostly through dense woods. The future sites of Marshall, Battle Creek, and Kalamazoo were only a few small clusters of cabins at that time. After leaving Battle Creek we passed through Gull Prairie, now know as Richland, and just to the north of this location we met Leonard Slater, an Indian missionary. After leaving the Slater Mission we plunged into the wilderness and the road disappeared to become an Indian trail marked by blazed trees. After traveling through the woods for a distance of about 18 miles, and not having seen a single cabin we finally arrived at Yankee Springs."

During the late 1830s and 1840s Yankee Springs became a focal point to travel in Barry County, and Yankee Bill's establishment prospered. The trails from Kalamazoo and Battle Creek joined at Gull Prairie, passed through Yankee Springs, and continued on to Kent (now known as Grand Rapids). In addition, the great Indian trail from Detroit to Kent passed through Yankee Springs.

As business increased, Yankee Springs Inn grew from one to seven cabins. (Mary Lewis Hoyt recalled that there were nine cabins, but other sources agree on seven.)

Travelers, in their letters east, frequently referred to the "little huts" at Yankee Springs, and some referred to the inn as seven storied with all the stories on the ground. The popularity of the place was such that it was not unusual for a hundred people to stay there on a single night, and on one night sixty teams were stabled at the inn.

Indians in the area supplied the inn with fresh fish and venison, as well as a variety of wild berries. Men were employed to plant and maintain an extensive garden. Other provisions were obtained in Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids. A memorable feast was put forth Thanksgiving Day in 1838. Wild turkey and pork ribs, slow cooked over the great open fireplace, were the entrees, while mince and pumpkin pies, as well as puddings were baked in the brick over on the side of the fireplace. To this feast Yankee Bill had invited all the new settlers for miles around, and on the day of the event he sent out men with wagons to bring his guests to the inn. With music playing, the crowd danced until morning.

The glory days of Yankee Springs ended in the late 1840s. The coming of railroads, and the routing of stagecoach lines through Hastings to the east, began the decline of the inn, and the construction of a plank road from Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids in 1855 completely diverted traffic from Yankee Springs, and sealed the fate of the famed inn.

One Saturday, during the heyday of the inn, Yankee Bill Lewis organized a foot race and a group of men took off down the hill. No one remembers who won, or what the prize was, but tradition does recall that one of the contestants shook some false teeth loose, and that a subsequent search failed to find them.

Hikers. As you walk the North Country Trail and cross the clearing where the Mansion House once stood, remember those other travelers who preceded you by over 150 years, and if you have time to linger awhile, look around and just maybe, you can find those missing false teeth."

From imagesofmichigan."While "Yankee Bill" Lewis, the famous landlord of the tavern at Yankee Springs, was attending a session of the state legislature in Detroit—for he had been elected representative from Barry county—Mr. Campau's nephew, Edward, courted and finally married Lewis' daughter, Phoebe, much to the indignation of "Yankee Bill" when he returned and found a son-in-law had been added to the family."

Excellent original early family and/or town genealogy, history, antique, collectible heirloom and/or ephemera.


CONDITION:  There are damp stains as shown. The cover is worn and top layer removing off from moisture. There is no bad scent. See listing description and photos.































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LOC2:  BOOKBOX26-TMK-E232009BTA20

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