Another Pioneer Gone—Death
of Hon. Titus Dort.
Last Tuesday Titus Dort passed to rest after a well-spent
life of 78 years. “Squire Dort,” as he
was familiarly called, was one of the pioneers contemporary with the Hon.
Jonathan Shearer [see letter below], of Plymouth. He was
born in the State of Vermont, County of Addison, and Town of Bridgeport, on the
17th day of June, 1806. His
father emigrated to Ohio in the fall of 1811 and settled in Franklinton, the
county seat of Franklin County, on the west side of the Sciota River, opposite
where the City of Columbus now stands.
It was then Woodland. In less
than a year after he had taken up his residence there war was declared against
Great Britain, and Franklinton was made the headquarters of the Northwestern
army. In 1815, the war being over, his
father moved twenty miles north-west, on the Big Darby. In 1821Titus Dort came to Detroit with a
drove of cattle, driving them on the Gen. Hull Road through the Black Swamp.
In 1826 he came to Detroit to reside and commenced making
brick on the Dequindre farm, about one mile east of Woodward avenue (this was
probably where Dequindre street now is).
In 1828 he began brick-making on the Rouge. On the 30th day of November, 1829,
he married Deidamia Thomas, a daughter of Alanson Thomas, an early settler of
Dearborn, who has already preceded him to the “better land.” In 1833 he entered into a contract with the
War Department of the United States, represented here by Lieut. Joshua Howard,
to furnish the brick for the government buildings to be erected at Dearborn,
excepting 100,00 in the basement of the arsenal.
In 1835 Gov. Mason and the Legislative Council of the
Territory of Michigan appointed him a Justice of the Peace.
Eighteen hundred and thirty-six found him a delegate from
Wayne County to the Convention at Ann Arbor, in September of that year, to
accept or reject the proposition of Congress, that our Territory should be
admitted into the Union of the States.
Elected by the Township of Dearborn Justice of the Peace
in 1836, and having served so satisfactorily and uprightly for a term of three
years, he was re-elected for a term of four years. It was during the year 1836 that several
wards in the City of Detroit neglected to elect such officers and on the 15th
of June Congress acknowledged and accepted our State Constitution, except the
boundary, and then our State laws were accepted by all. Many of the townships and wards had no legal
officers so “Squire Dort” had several law cases from Detroit.
He was elected three different times to the House of
Representatives, in 1838, 1844 and 1864; also twice to the State Senate –in
1843 and 1850, and took a seat at each succeeding session. At the session of the Senate of 1849 he was
appointed Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture.
After receiving from Prof. Holmes several communications
on the formation of a State Agricultural Society, he presented the matter to the
Senate and House and they, with a few exceptions, united in forming such a
society. He was also one of the
Executive Committee for five years.
Always held in high esteem by his fellow townsmen, he was often placed
in positions of trust and responsibility, being made for several years
Supervisor of the Township of Dearborn.
He was frequently appointed Superintendent of Wayne County poor, and
personally looked after the erection of the first and third brick buildings on
the county farms for their accommodation.
Much of his time in the later years of his life was spent in the
settlement of the estates of deceased persons, and in 1860 he was a candidate
for the office of Judge of Probate, but was defeated with the candidates of the
Democratic party generally.
Thus closed his civil and political record. He was what was called a Jackson Democrat and
prided himself in doing everything in business with accuracy and honesty, and
not a slur or stain has ever fallen on his character.
Detroit Free Press Oct. 31,
1879 [three weeks
after Titus’ obituary was published]
“The
Late Titus Dort.” -a memorial tribute-
The following is extracted from a letter from Hon. Jonathan Shearer to
Andrew J. Dort, son of the late Hon. Titus Dort:
“My Dear Respected Friend, Andrew J. Dort:
I feel
heartily to sympathize with you in the bereavement of a loving father, who has
gone to rest from his earthly labors, which were for a long number of years
faithfully devoted for the good of his fellow men, and especially for the
welfare of his brother pioneers in opening the way for organizing a new
State. He was a kind, benevolent husband
and father and neighbor in his domestic relations; and loved and respected by
all, and in his public relations an honest, considerate lover of exact and
impartial justice in the various capacities of public trust. I became acquainted with him in the Territory
of Michigan, and was intimately acquainted with him and his acts publicly
during many years , as he, as well as myself, had the honor of a seat twice in
the State Senate, and in two sessions in the House of Representatives, and
while as a member of the Senate of 1849 I wrote the bill for the establishment
of county agricultural societies of Michigan, great opposition was manifested
by the professional men of the Senate on account of the newness of the State,
and your honored father came to the aid of the passage of the bill, and it
became a law, and in 1849, while he was struggling to establish the State
Agricultural Society, my humble abilities were devoted to aid in the passage of
that law; and before this, when Father Pierce was organizing the High School at
Ann Arbor we gave him our united support in the establishment of the Normal
School at Ypsilanti and also aided Gov. Felch in passing the Central Railway
into the hands of a company, as while the State owned it, it did not prove
successful, for individuals who had an interest in it could look after it much
better than the State. We also took a
deep interest in the establishment of the free common or primary schools, being
on a special committee to draft the school laws, and to raise the mill ta to
make the people interested in the schools; this, with the sales of the school
lands, had a good deal to do in aiding the free school system. We contended long and strenuously that the
property of the State should educate the rising generation, the poor as well as
the rich, as intelligence would protect the State and the free school has
become the law of Michigan, and great benefit is a lasting result of those
weary labors.
I had the
pleasure of taking rooms two sessions with your dear father, and after long and
complex sessions, listening to tedious debates and thousands of motions
sometimes to no profit, we would retire to our rooms and look over the laws of
their States and compare notes on subjects of importance to the State and
people, and freely burn the midnight oil in posting ourselves for the coming
day's labor, and often your dear father would say to me that our votes were a
matter of record, and we were willing to be judged by them, and if we committed
errors it was of the head, not of the heart.
People not acquainted with legislation have but a faint idea of the
thoughtful labor imposed upon the mind; as the old saying is, “much study is
wearisome to the flesh;” and we found it so in aiding in the organizing a new
State to make the statue agreeable to a toiling, industrious people, who were
leveling the forest and changing it into fruitful fields of plenty, and your
honored father labored long and patiently for the good of our beloved State and
its noble institutions. Coming from
State affairs to township and county business, your father held many offices of
trust, and for a long time was almost constantly employed to the satisfaction
of upright men; his decisions were made with care and equal justice to all
concerned, and the pioneers of Michigan highly appreciate his able service, and
all who survive him feel deeply to mourn the great loss of a good and faithful
brother pioneer; and all the people at large, when they understand his true
history, will cherish his memory in respectful and lively remembrance. In his political faith he was a Democrat of
the Jefferson and Jackson school.
Truly yours, J. SHEARER.
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