As I look outside, I am enjoying a day of glittering beauty, for we have freshly fallen snow. Like the Indigenous peoples who lived here before the Europeans came, today we are blessed to live in a county that is filled with lakes and rivers and endless forests.

For thousands of years, indigenous people summered in the area because of its great beauty, impressive lakes, bountiful wildlife and rich soil for growing an abundance of food. The land was also home to the great spirits and “mysteries” they worshipped. No matter what God we worship, the area has long been known far-and-wide as “God’s Country.”

We are fortunate many good historians have preserved much of the history of our area. Some of the details in this column are based on a history of early Cheboygan written in the 1930s by Mrs. Millie Wilson Brazel, granddaughter of pioneer Moses Wiggins Horne.

In 1845, less than 200 years ago, Horne, Jacob Sammons and Alexander McLeod paved the way for today’s modern city.

Moses was born in 1818 in New Hampshire. In 1844, he settled on Mackinac Island. He developed a trading business with the native Indians and first came to Cheboygan to cut down trees to turn into staves (staves are small, thin pieces of wood used to strengthen buildings to make barrels). After his business was established, he returned briefly in 1848 to New Hampshire to marry Sarah T. Bunker. Moses brought Sarah home to Mackinac Island where two children were born to them. The older child died young.

Moses quickly learned the native language. He became an interpreter. He also taught the Christian religion to interested Indians. Moses lived closely with the Indians and liked them very much. They gave his daughter gifts of wintergreen berries and baskets.

Moses and Sarah saw a future for the Indians and Europeans in what was to become Cheboygan. He purchased 52 acres of land in 1849, encompassing the area around what is now Main, Elm and Pine streets. Jacob Sammons purchased land nearby. At the time, Main Street was a well-traveled Indian trail that followed the river from Mullett Lake north to the Straits.

Moses and Sarah built a home near the river (where Washington Park is today). It was surrounded by a beautiful picket fence. He built a boardwalk that led from the river to Main Street. He also built two large barns, a cooper shop and a blacksmith shop. He caught an abundance of fish and raised various fowl, cows, pigs, sheep and horses. He filled the yard with beautiful fruit trees and flowers.

Life was much harder then. Water came from springs, though it was clear and pure. Homes were heated with wood and homemade tallow candles were used for lighting. Streets were dirt and became mired in deep mud when it rained. There was no indoor plumbing, so people needed outhouses. Everyone kept bedpans near for the cold nights. Soap was made at home. Carpets were woven from rags. Straw was laid under them for greater warmth.

Moses and Sarah would travel occasionally by sailboat to Mackinac Island to visit their longtime friends, the Astor family, who were descended from the famous John Jacob Astor.

Moses was the first postmaster. He would sometimes take the mail all the way to Detroit in the winter, traveling by dogsled over the ice of Lake Huron, an unimaginable distance at the time. This trip took over three weeks. In the summer, the mail traveled by boat.

He was also active in politics. He was very strict about law and order. Residents often looked to him for advice. He was a good man who enjoyed good company.

Moses and Sarah soon had four more children. One of their daughters married George Wilson, the first person to build lumber camps to harvest the white pine of northern Michigan. George was born in England in 1845. He lived in Cheboygan for 64 years, dying in 1928.

Cheboygan grew and flourished through the lumbering era. Over the decades, many people came to work in various industries, continuing the settlement that Moses and Jacob Sammons had begun in the 1840s.

Many area residents are unaware of the long history of the Cheboygan area, from the Natives who lived on the riverbank for centuries and the earliest non-Indians who founded a city in the wilderness.

I truly hope today’s column has inspired many readers to learn more about our earliest residents. Our local library has many good resources on local history.