The French Canadians of Michigan: Their Contribution to the Development of the Saginaw Valley and the Keweenaw Peninsula, 1840-1914

Chapter 3: French Canadian Migration to the Saginaw Valley, 1840-1900

Chapter 3 French Canadian Migration to the Saginaw Valley, 1840-1900 The French Canadians made major contributions to each phase in the development ofthe Saginaw Valley. Among the regions where it was possible for them to emigrate, they rapidly identified the valley as an area where they could improve their living conditions. Their experience in the valley may be divided into three distinct phases. The first, from 1840 to i860, saw the arrival of the first migrants and the beginnings of community organization. The second, from i860 to 1880, was characterized by the rapid acceleration of the flow of migration, the establishment of social institutions , and the consolidation of the communities. The final phase began in 1880 and concluded with the end of the century. It was marked by the decline of the lumber industry in the region, social tensions, the departure ofmany migrants, and the marginalization of the French Canadian communities. THE FRENCH CANADIANS BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR, 1840-60 Until the Civil War, there were few French Canadians in the Saginaw Valley (see table 3.1).1 In 1840, there were only 60, in 1850, 85, and in i860, there were still only 401. Furthermore, given this slow increase, the rapid growth of the overall population of the valley in this period had the effect of reducing the relative repre75 76 CHAPTER THREE sentation of the French Canadian population, which fell from 6,7 percent in 1840 to 2,5 percent in i860. This twenty-year period was nonetheless important, because it marked the beginning of French Canadian settlement in the region. The first French Canadians in the region—the Campaus, Desnoyers, Peltiers, Prattes, Tremblays, and Trudells—who migrated from southeastern Michigan when the fur trade declined there, had established themselves as farmers in the 1830s, Those who followed in the 1840s also began farming and then bought their land, the only difference being that half of them came directly from Quebec, In 1850, three out of four French Canadian farmers in the valley owned their land,2 This information confirms the hypothesis that French Canadian families who left Quebec for the Midwest in the mid-nineteenth century had a certain amount of money and were looking for fertile land at a good price, on which they could continue to live by agriculture,3 However, the French Canadians who arrived in the valley in the 1850s had different objectives; they were primarily interested in the new employment opportunities created by the lumber industry . The reason for this change was that those who had migrated westward in the 1840s in search of good-quality land had to move further west in the 1850s, generally to Illinois, because the land that interested them was no longer available in Michigan ,4 It is the westward movement of the agricultural frontier that explains the decline in the number of French Canadians working in agriculture in the decade 1850-60, Their decline in this sector was offset by their emergence in the service and skilled labor sectors that developed as the increase ofthe valley's urban population gave rise to various needs. In i860, one household head in five was either a shipwright or a saloon owner—a traditional institution in lumbering towns. The husband was the principal breadwinner in the family. Nonetheless, because of the lumber industry's growing need for labor, boys of fifteen and over who lived with their parents contributed a substantial amount to their family's earnings. On the eve of the Civil War, three boys out of four worked outside the COUNTIES OF THE SAGINAW VALLEY AND SURROUNDING COUNTIES. From Atlas of Michigan, edited by Lawrence M. Sommers, 1977Courtesy of Michigan State University Press- 78 CHAPTER THREE home, either as laborers in the sawmills or in agriculture. Wives, and girls over the age of fifteen still living with their parents, did not contribute as wage earners. In families that took in boarders, however, the women handled this activity, which increased the household income. Only 4 percent of households ran boarding houses in this period. Although the French Canadian population of the valley remained small, by 1850 it was already geographically concentrated: 60 percent of its members lived in the township of Hampton, which became part of the newly created Bay County in 1857. Another 30 percent lived in the township of Saginaw. But from i860 until the end of the century, most French Canadian residents...