People of Detroit

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Charles I. Walker

Judge

John Walker

One of thirty leading Detroit citizens deported by General Proctor for criticizing the General's actions during the War of 1812.

Sarah Wallis

Wife of Hugh Brady.

George Washington

General

American General during the Revolutionary War. First president of the United States of America.

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Salon Weeks

Director of the Detroit Historical Society in 1973.

William W. Wheaton

Born: 04-05-1833

35th Mayor of the City of Detroit (1868-1871)

Katherine Whipple

Daughter of Solomon Sibley and Sarah Whipple Sproat. Wife of C.C. Trowbridge.

Whitney, President of the Women's Bi-Centenary Committee

Mrs. Bertram C.

Presented the Madame Cadillac tablet to the city of Detroit and the Detroit Museum of Art on May 30, 1903.

Cecilia Williams

Daughter of Mary Mott and John R. Williams.

Elizabeth Williams

Daughter of Mary Mott and John R. Williams.

Ferdinand Williams

Son of Mary Mott and John R. Williams.

J.C. Devereux Williams

Son of Mary Mott and John R. Williams.

James Mott Williams

Son of Mary Mott and John R. Williams.

John C. Williams

Son of Mary Mott and John R. Williams.

John R. Williams

Mayor

Born: 05-04-1782
Died: 10-20-1854

Mayor of the City of Detroit (1824-1825, 1829-1830, 1844-1847). Colonel in the militia in the War of 1812. Delegate to Michigan's first constitutional convention in 1835.

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Mary C.A. Williams

Died: 1876

Daughter of Mary Mott and John R. Williams.

Nathan Williams

Official sent from Quebec in 1780 to appraise the McDougall holdings on Belle Isle.

Theodore Williams

Son of Mary Mott and John R. Williams.

Thomas Williams

Born in Albany, NY. Came to Detroit in 1765. Appointed justice of the peace in Detroit in 1778. Father of the City of Detroit's first major, John R. Williams. Voted in Detroit's first election in 1768. Married to a sister of Joseph Campau.

Alexandrine M. Willis

Wife of Jean (?) B. Campau

William Wilson

One of thirty leading Detroit citizens deported by General Proctor for criticizing the General's actions during the War of 1812.

John Winder

Colonel

Husband of Elizabeth Williams.

Wiseman

Major

Possible commandant of British Fort Detroit in part of 1787.

B.J.H. Witherell

Husband of Cassandra Brady.

Augustus Brevoort Woodward

Judge

1st president of Detroit Bank.

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Glossary:
Algonquin

General term used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes (and others): Delaware, Fox, Huron, Miami, Ojibwa (Chippewa), Ottawa, Potawatomi, Sac, Shawnee and Winnebago.
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Glossary:
arquebus

A 39 pound (approximate) musket that two men would prop on a tri-pod and fire with a small torch. The arquebus was used by Champlain's men against the Iroquois to defend the Hurons. This may be the cause of decades of Iroquois abuse of the Hurons.
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Glossary:
clay and wattle

Building technique used in the construction of chimneys in the early days of Fort Ponchartrain. The technique involved piling sticks and packing them - inside and out - with clay and mud.
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Glossary:
Colbertism

Name for early French mercantilism in America, which Jean-Baptiste Colbert was influential in developing.
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Glossary:
conges

Trade permits issued by the Canadian government/court of France in the late 1600s to early 1700s.
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Glossary:
coureurs de bois

Very early French inhabitants of the current US and Canada who gave up their farmsteads for lives in the fur trade. They often lived with Native Americans.
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Glossary:
District of Hesse

Land district provisioned by the Canadian Council on July 24, 1788. The area was on the east side of the Detroit River.
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Glossary:
Fox

"Properly ""Mesh-kwa-ki-hug"". Native American tribe living in the area between Saginaw Bay and Thunder Bay at the time Detroit was founded. The French called the tribe Renyard. An allied tribe of the Sacs and Mascoutin."
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Glossary:
Huron

A Native American tribe that built a village near Fort Ponchartrain.
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Glossary:
Iroquoian

General term sometimes used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes: Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Seneca.
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Glossary:
Iroquois

"A Native American tribe known for antagonizing and brutalizing the Hurons (see also arquebus)"
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Glossary:
Mascouten

Native American tribe living in the Grand Traverse Bay area at the time Detroit was founded. An allied tribe of the Foxes and Sacs. Also spelled Mascoutin.
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Glossary:
Miami

A Native American tribe that built a village near Fort Ponchartrain.
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Glossary:
Muskhogean

General term used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes: Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Creek.
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Glossary:
New York Currency

First standard currency used in Detroit (first used in 1765).
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Glossary:
Ottawa

A Native American tribe that built a village near Fort Ponchartrain.
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Glossary:
Outagamies

Native American tribe living in the Grand Traverse Bay area at the time Detroit was founded. An allied tribe of the Foxes (and Sacs?).
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Glossary:
Plains Indians

General term used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes: Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, and Pawnee (Pani).
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Glossary:
Potawatomi

A Native American tribe that built a village near Fort Ponchartrain.
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Glossary:
Quebec Act

Act of June 22, 1774, in which British Parliament decides to exercise English law in criminal cases and old French provincial law in civil cases in western settlements. The idea was to discourage people from settling in the west.
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Glossary:
Renyard

See Fox
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Glossary:
ribbon farms

Original land grants given by Cadillac. The lots were typically around 200 feet wide at the river front, with lengths up to 3 miles.
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Glossary:
Sac

See Sauk
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Glossary:
Sakis

See Sauk
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Glossary:
Sauk

Native American tribe living in the area between Saginaw Bay and Thunder Bay at the time Detroit was founded. The French called the tribe Sakis; English and Americans generally call them Sacs. An allied tribe of the Foxes/Renyards and Mascouten.
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Glossary:
Shoshonean

General term used to describe Native Americans of the following tribes: Bannock and Shoshone.
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Glossary:
Treaty of Montreal

Treaty ending the war between the Iroquois and France and England. Negotiations began in July of 1698 and the treaty was signed in August of 1701.
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Glossary:
Treaty of Ryswick

September 20, 1697 treaty ending war between France and England.
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Glossary:
voyageurs

Early French explorers who traveled mainly by water.