Detroit Places:
Ribbon Farms

Cadillac began granting land to villagers in Fort Ponchartrain in 1707. Between March 1707 and June 28, 1710, he made some 150 land grants, including 68 village lots to private individuals, 31 farms and 13 gardens.

Click here to view a map of Cadillac's land grants compared to Detroit today.

The 68 individual lots were granted as follows (most were 20 by 25 feet):

  1. Pierre Chesne
  2. Andre Chouet
  3. Pierre Faverau dit LeGrandeur
  4. Joseph Despre
  5. Salomon Joseph du Vestin
  6. Pierre Leger dit Parisien
  7. Bonnaventure Compien dit L'Esperance
  8. Jacob de Marsac dit Desrocher
  9. ? D'Argenteuil
  10. Jean Richard
  11. Jean Labatier dit Champagne
  12. Estienne Bontran
  13. Pierre Hemard
  14. Antoine Dupuis dit Beauregard
  15. Jacques L'Anglois
  16. Guillaume Bovet dit Deliard
  17. Michael Masse
  18. Michel Campau (53 feet on Antoine Street by 17 feet on Ste. Anne Street)
  19. Louis Normand
  20. Francois Tesee
  21. Pierre Chantelon
  22. Francois Bienvenu dit de L'Isle
  23. Pierre Esteve
  24. Blaise Surgere
  25. Pierre Poirier
  26. Antoine Ferron
  27. Pierre Tacet
  28. François Fafard de Lorme
  29. Michel Dizier (Disier)
  30. Jacob de Marsac
  31. Rencontre
  32. Desloriers
  33. Xaintonge
  34. Jacques du Moulin
  35. Guilleaume Aguet
  36. Louis Gastineau
  37. Joseph Parent
  38. ? Sirier
  39. ? Quilenchive
  40. ? Derance
  41. ? du Figuier
  42. ? La Montagne
  43. Pierre Mallet
  44. Antoine du Fresne
  45. Jean Baptiste Chornic
  46. Jean Casse
  47. Paul L'Anglois
  48. Jerome Marliard
  49. Andre Bombardie
  50. Pierre du Roy
  51. Pierre Roy
  52. Francois Margue
  53. Antoine Magnant
  54. Francois Bonne
  55. Touissaints Dardennes
  56. Pierre Bassinet
  57. Francois Brunet
  58. Antoine Beauregard
  59. Marie Le Page (the first known female landowner in the Detroit area)
  60. Jacques Campau
  61. Jean Serond
  62. Pierre Robert
  63. ? L'Arramee
  64. Rene Le Moine
  65. Jacques Le Moine
  66. Paul Guillet
  67. Joseph Rinaud
  68. Antoine Tuffe dit du Fresne

    69. Ribbon farm was the name given to the original land grants given by Antoine Cadillac. The lots were typically up to 200 feet wide and up to 3 miles in length (the narrow width being parallel with the Detroit River).

    Ribbon farm grants were free, but only in the sense that grantees didn't have to "buy" the land. There were plenty of rules and regulations, some of which resulted in payment or taxes being levied. Rules varied from grant to grant; some of these rules follow.

    • No hares, rabbits, pheasants or partridges on the property could be killed.
    • An annual rent was to be paid. Rates varied, from 5 livres to 5 livres 6 deniers (about $3.10).
    • A fee was charged for trading privileges (10 livres).
    • All grain was to be ground at Cadillac's mill at a charge of 8 pounds per minot (about a bushel).
    • Grantees were required to help erect an annual Maypole at Cadillac's home or pay 3 livres annually.
    • Grantees couldn't assume a trade that was reserved for Cadillac's artisans (this included blacksmith, armorer, cutler or brewer). Anyone could apply to Cadillac for a license in any of these trades. Joseph Parent's fee for a license to shoe horses was 600 livres, 2 hogsheads of all, and free shoeing for all of Cadillac's horses.
    • Improvements on the land had to begin within three months of ownership.
    • Granted land could not be sold or used as collateral without Cadillac's permission.
    • If the sale of granted land was approved by Cadillac, he was given the first opportunity to buy.
    • A fine of one-fourth the value of the land was charged to those who sold their land.
    • Grantees were to provide the village with timber for boats and fortifications when necessary.
    • Goods could be imported to the land, but any clerk used for this purpose had to be a resident of Fort Ponchartrain du Detroit.
    • Landowners were not permitted to sell liquour to Native Americans.
    • On St. Martin's day, a fee of a certain number of fowls, a certain dozen eggs and a certain measure of grain per arpent (land measure of the time) had be paid.
    • All bread was to be baked in Cadillac's ovens.

    Some of original grantees include: Guion, Witherell, Livernois, Riopelle, M. St. Aubin, the widow Beausseron, Trudeau, Magnau, Des Rivieres, De Ruisseau, Comparet Dufresne, Hubert, Lacroix, Monier. Later names include Robert Chene, Jean Chapotone, Desrocher, Beaubien, Robert Navarre, Eustache, Meloche, Moran, Gilbert, Seguin, Barois, Gamelin, Caron, Labadie, Cicot, Burrois, Debutes, Godet, Audrey, De Quindre, and De Lille.

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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.