TO MY UNCLE, NEWMAN A. FULLER, WHOSE GENEROSITY HAS ENABLED ME TO RENDER TO MY NATIVE STATE THIS SERVICE, THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED. 211385 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is impossible to acknowledge adequately the debt I owe to all of those who have so generously aided me in finding and studying my sources. To my master, Professor Claude H. Van Tyne, Head of the Department of History in the University of Michigan, I wish specially to express my deep obligation for indispensable aid received at every stage of the work. Special acknowledgments are due to Professor Edward Raymond Turner, also of the University, for invaluable suggestions in preparing the manuscript, and to Professors Wilbur C. Abbott and Max Farrand of Yale, for assistance received in the inception of the work. It would seem almost invidious to particularize the officers and attendants of the University Library, the State Library, the Burton Library, and the city libraries of Michigan, especially those of Detroit and Grand Rapids, who have been uniformly generous in extending privileges to facilitate these researches. The selection of the subject of this work grew out of an interest in Michigan history begun in early years and a desire to make some return to my native State for the advantages I have received from her. The work is now presented as a token of esteem for the pioneer builders of the commonwealth, and to their descendants I wish to express sincere gratitude for the encouragement that has lightened my labor. |