152 RURAL MICHIGAN 



wife, if the owner be a married man, must be secured 

 to the document. "The homestead of a family, after 

 the death of the owner thereof," stipulates the third 

 section, "shall 1)e exempt from the payment of his 

 debts in all cases during the minority of his chil- 

 dren"; and another section protects the same privi- 

 lege of the owner's widow during the period of her 

 widowhood. Thus does the State seek to relieve its 

 inhabitants from the liability to eviction from the 

 family homestead, a proceeding prejudicial to family 

 life and the well-being of the community. 



THE HUMAN FACTOR IN AGRICULTURE 



Historically speaking, the Indians were the first 

 agriculturalists of Michigan. This population has in 

 historic times belonged mainly to three Algonquin 

 tribes: the Chippewas (or Ojibways), the Ottawas 

 and the Pottawatomies. Of these the Chippewas and 

 the Ottawas dwelt chiefly in the Upper Peninsula 

 and the northern portions of the Lower Peninsula, 

 and to them may be added a few Menominees ad- 

 jacent to the river called by their name. The Pot- 

 tawatomies are associated more especially with the 

 southern sections, but there has been, in fact, con- 

 siderable intermingling of tribes throughout the two 

 peninsulas. The census of 1910 showed the Indian 

 population of Michigan to be 7,519, and that it had 

 been increasing. Their number in 1920 was 5,614. 

 The most considerable numbers were in Baraga, 



