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Kathleen
Member
Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 2192
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Saturday, April 07, 2007 - 10:00 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Recently I had the opportunity to access an electronic product that contains the full text of some 500 19th Century U.S. Newspapers. I've been doing searches on Detroit people and events.

Here is an 1856 article about an historic home that had been recently torn down. Note the mention of the pear trees.

Another Venerable Building Gone.—A few weeks since, an ancient building, situated between Woodbridge and Franklin streets, and known as the “Beaubien Homestead,” was torn down. This old house was built in the year 1703, as is supposed, by Jean Baptiste Beaubien, great-grandfather of our old and respected fellow citizen, Antoine Beaubien, Esq. It was built at the time that La Motte Cadillac, commandant of old Fort Pontchartrain, then under the reign of the Grand Monarch, Louis XIV of France. This venerable house was the oldest in or near Detroit, and three generations of the Beaubien family were born and brought up in it. Near it stood several tall pear trees—sentinels, as it were, to watch and protect the old house from desecration. But the spirit of improvement is making way with many things that are time worn and sacred. One after another these old French houses in and near our city are disappearing, until but two or three of them are now standing to perpetuate the memory of the original “French habitants.” --Det. Press, 19.

Originally published in the Detroit Press, September 19, 1856; reprinted in The Daily Cleveland Herald, September 24, 1856.
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Psip
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Username: Psip

Post Number: 1763
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Saturday, April 07, 2007 - 10:12 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Neat find Kathleen,

While downtown this past week it occurred to me that; 1, how many people have walked down the streets I am now standing on, 2, I bet where every building is standing, there were 3 or 4 previous structures that are long gone.
What an amazing heritage we have here.
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Ray1936
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Username: Ray1936

Post Number: 1324
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Saturday, April 07, 2007 - 10:52 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Good find, Kathleen. Here's how Antoine Beaubien appeared on the 1840 census. Funny but I can't locate him on the 1850 census, just a Henry Beaubien, wife, and six kids.


1840 census
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Hornwrecker
Member
Username: Hornwrecker

Post Number: 1792
Registered: 04-2005
Posted on Saturday, April 07, 2007 - 10:58 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Looks like "Tear that merde downe." has been a Detroit motto for a lot longer than we think it has.

I wonder how many hitching posts they put in the lot.
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Eastsidedame
Member
Username: Eastsidedame

Post Number: 78
Registered: 12-2006
Posted on Saturday, April 07, 2007 - 11:01 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Kathleen, that's awesome. What product are you talking about?

Seems the destruction of historic structures was an issue then, too.
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Jimaz
Member
Username: Jimaz

Post Number: 1852
Registered: 12-2005
Posted on Saturday, April 07, 2007 - 11:10 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Kathleen, will you be able to retain access to that product? Will we be able to draw on it, as a resource, through you? If not, that's fine too. Thanks.
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Quozl
Member
Username: Quozl

Post Number: 392
Registered: 07-2005
Posted on Saturday, April 07, 2007 - 11:20 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I believe Kathleen may be using Gale Net Connect to 19th Century U.S. Newspapers, U.S. Newspapers of the 19th Century, American Newspapers of the 19th Century.

It can be found at http://er.lib.msu.edu/item.cfm ?item=048914 and is an amazing resource. This resource is restricted to MSU IP ranges. Off-campus access is possible by using the MSU Proxy Server. The "IP address" of a computer identifies its location: in this case, it helps identify a computer as part of MSU. This is important because use of many of our online resources is limited to MSU faculty, staff, students and visitors. If you are not associated with the university you may not be able to use some tools. By authenticating through the MSU Proxy Server you are identifying yourself to the remote resource as an MSU affiliate.

My sister in Plymouth has used this resource to investigate various our deceased family members in Michigan.
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Kathleen
Member
Username: Kathleen

Post Number: 2193
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Sunday, April 08, 2007 - 1:56 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yes, I'm using the online Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers product.

Quozl: Glad you like the product. It's one of my favorite Thomson Gale products. That's my employer, so I have access to our products. Specifically I work on our electronic products to insure that the data is searchable and that the display of citations and documents meet our standards. This is one of our most recent products, released late last summer.

Jimaz: Wish I could take requests for searches, but I can't use company resources to help others.

As I find interesting short pieces about Detroit, I'm happy to key the text and share it with the Forum.

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