354 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



till his grandson began to put on the garb of manhood, the Navarre family had 

 great influence with the Indians. Xegotiations were begun, by which young 

 Navarre was to have the title to all the south bank from the present position 

 of the mill dam down to a point below the Canada Southern railroad, and sub- 

 sequently he had a deed for the most of it, signed by five chiefs. His son, 

 Eobert F. Navarre, who, now eighty-four years of age, bora under the pear 

 trees, is now living two miles nearly south of them, says his father has repeat- 

 edly shown him where the posts stood which marked the boundaries of this 

 Indian purchase. 



THE SEVEN PION^EER PEAK TREES. 



Here, then, Navarre came in 1780, and built his first cabin on the banks of 

 the stream. Here, then, he planted his pear trees in the same year. He 

 brought seven sprouts, the size of his finger, in his hands on horseback from 

 " the straits." These sprouts came from the two old trees on his father's and 

 grandfather's claim, which were, as I have stated before, sprouted from the old 

 pioneer pear tree, that stood within the pickets, and which may have grown 

 from one of the three seeds brought across the ocean in a Frenchman's vest 

 pocket. From these seven pear trees have descended all or nearly all of the 

 French pear trees of the county. Others were obtained at Detroit, but their 

 quality not proving equal to Navarre's, were considered of not much account, 

 and a ready market was found for these at three dollars each sprout. 



THREE XOW LIVING. 



Of the seven pear trees set out in 1780, three are now living. Since I set- 

 tled in Monroe, nineteen years ago, two have died. They died, as many a 

 strong man now dies, suddenly and without apparent cause. The season be- 

 fore their death, it was estimated one bore over forty bushels of pears. They 

 have always been prolific bearers, every year laden v,^ith their golden harvest. 



THE LARGEST 



now standing is twelve feet six inches in circumference six inches from the 

 ground, — ten feet seven inches, one foot from the ground ; and at its smallest 

 part ten feet in circumference. Four and one-half feet from the ground the 

 trunk separates into two branches, at which point it is eleven feet one inch 

 around. The two limbs aggregate thirteen feet eight inches. Nine years ago 

 I measured the same tree. At its smallest part it measured nine feet six 

 inches, and the limbs aggregated twelve feet six inches, showing a growth in 

 the nine years of six inches girtli of the body, and one foot two inches of the 

 limbs. 



The tallest tree now standing is sixty-s3ven feet, or, to be exact, sixty-six 

 feet ten inches in height. 



THE SETTLEMENT OF 17S4. 



In 1781 a large colony from Detroit settled on the Raisin; and in time the 

 river for ten or twelve miles was settled, so that as the farms were narrow and 

 the houses built on its banks, it was a continuous village on both sides. 

 Around each house was a pear and apple orchard. It is interesting, in reading 

 over the evidence upon which the United States confirmed the titles to these 

 French settlers, to find the unanimity with which it is testified that a Navarre, 

 a LaSalle, a Jerome, or a Robert, settled and occupied their land and planted 

 an orchard before 1796, the date fixed by the act of Congress, from which 



