Michigan Historical Marker
Stewart Farm
Harsens Island, Michigan
Installed May 30, 2004
Side one of the marker reads:
Stewart Farm
This is likely the oldest farm complex on Harsens Island. Harvey Stewart, a
brewery and distillery owner from New York State, came to the Michigan Territory
in 1810. He served as a guide and messenger to General William Henry Harrison
during the War of 1812. Stewart, a widower, married Mary Graveraet in 1814.
She was the granddaughter of Jacob Harsen, who settled on the island around
1778. Graveraet had inherited 640 acres originally owned by Harsen, but abandoned
it during the war. After the war she returned with Stewart and his two sons,
Aura and John, and took up farming. In 1849 Aura Stewart purchased 53 acres
of the farm and began building this house soon after. In 1876 he wrote his memoirs
- a stirring account of nineteenth-century life on Harsens Island.
Side two of the marker reads:
Memoir of Aura Stewart
Aura Stewart was born in New York State in 1804 and moved to Harsens Island
at age 12. In 1876 he wrote his memoirs, which were published in the Marine
City Gazette and the 1883 History of St. Clair County. Stewart wrote: For many
years, I saw but little of Michigan, except that portion bordering on the shore
of Lake and River St. Clair. I came from an inland and thickly settled district,
and has seen no flowing water save brooks and rivulets; I had seen no forests
but in the distance, and though but a boy of twelve years of age I could not
but feel impressed with the wild beauty of my new home. The dense and almost
impenetrable forests, the magnificent River St. Clair, the countless number
of every variety of waterfowl flying over my head or resting and sporting on
the bosom of the beautiful waters, the howling of wolves at night, the constantly
passing and repassing canoes of the strange-looking Indians, their stealthy
tread through the woods and their unintelligible shouts as they passed each
other, and last but not least, the merry songs of the French voyageurs toiling
at the oar, propelling their boats swiftly over the blue waters - these were
new scenes to me, and called forth my wonder and delight.