oliver hazard perry

You are currently browsing articles tagged oliver hazard perry.

Oliver Hazard Perry/Oliver Perry Hazard

February 11, 2010 in Uncategorized | 6 comments

oliver hazard perry

A few months ago I was intrigued to find a headstone in Farmington’s Quaker Cemetery for Oliver Perry Hazard, March 17, 1836 — September 16, 1923. It gave me a brain glitch. For a few moments I could not remember why I knew that name nor why it seemed somehow wrong.

Luckily, I have an iPhone these days, so I just looked it up when I got back to my car.

Of course, I was thinking about Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero of the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812. Not the same guy buried in the Quaker Cemetery in Farmington, Michigan, but how did a guy with the name “Oliver Perry Hazard” end up buried in the Quaker Cemetry in Farmington, Michigan? That couldn’t just be a coincidence.

Here’s his obituary:

Oliver Perry Hazard passed away at his home, 3439 Cass Avenue, Detroit, Sunday, September 16, 1923. Mr. Hazard was a direct descendent of the renowned Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, passing the name on to his grandson, Oliver P.H. Crane of Los Angeles. He was born near Penn Yan, New York … and when very young, came west ith his parents, who settled in Novi, Michigan.

… At one time during his last years he gave to the late Fred M. Warner and Nathan H. power many interesting incidents of the early history of Farmington. This historical data was taken down in shorthand, by a stenographer.

… Mr. Hazard was a man of strong convictions, ever ready to champion what he believed to be right regardless of the attitude that others might take. He had hosts of friends and was a man among men. A devoted husband and a kind father, his domestic life was ideal.

So, that settles that. The obit also does not mention that Oliver Perry Hazard’s wife was Lucy Botsford, and at one point in his diverse business career, he took over the General store at the Botsford Inn (a place that well deserves a post all its own).

I read the historical notes compiled by Nathan H. Power and Governor Warner (it’s pretty great that the Governor was really excited about history, by the way), but it’s not sourced very well, so there’s no indication of what Oliver Hazard remembered in particular about Farmington. The record (written in 1921) did note that Mr. Hazard, the very first secretary of the Farmington Masonic Lodge, “at 86 retains his health and mental vigor to a remarkable degree.”

Today I also learned about Oliver Hazard Perry (the war hero)’s life-long feud with Jesse Duncan Elliott, and idly mused about whether we might be related.

I’d like to post more obituaries more often. Old ones like this always seems so sincere, like even if you didn’t know him, you could appreciate what he was like and why he was important.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

UMMA’s magnificent Maximilien Sebastien Foy

December 3, 2009 in Art, Culture, History | No comments

The mister and I took a field trip to Ann Arbor last Sunday, desperate to get out of the apartment and into the world after three and a half long days of family visits, plans with out-of-town friends and eating/drinking too much.

Our destination: the beautifully renovated University of Michigan Museum of Art. We arrived with no particular art-seeing aims, just the need to give our brains something to do besides worry about the week to come.

The first painting we saw was on a lamp post flag outside the building, inviting us to get inspired — a handsome face, a gilded uniform.

“Who is that?” I asked.

“Oliver Hazard Perry?” I think he was half-joking; Perry has been on the brain.

The larger-than-life portrait hanging gloriously in the Museum Apse is actually of General Maximilien Sébastien Foy, a French military leader and statesman who led campaigns in Portugal, Spain and served in the Battles of the Pyrennes and Waterloo. Foy was severely wounded an astonishing 15 times during his career; during the Battle of Orthez, he was left for dead on the field.

Maximilien Sébastien Foy was an adored public figure, according to his obituary in an 1826 issue of the British Register of Literature, Sciences and Belles-Lettres, perhaps due to his career as a writer and eloquent public speaker after he retired from the military in 1815. He also seem to have been suspicious of Napoleon’s absolutist aims; one anecdote has him refusing to toast to the Emperor’s health:

After one of Buonaparte’s victories, he was at a diner of the officers, when, upon “the health of the emperor” having been given, he alone declined drinking it. In vain was he pressed on the point. “I am not thirsty,” said he.

More than 6000 mourners attended his funeral procession, including the Duc D’Orléans Louis-Phillipe III, who would become the last King of France, and the founder of French romanticism, the Vicomte de Chateaubriand.

Baron François Gérard, a distinguished painter and portraitist and a student of Jacques-Louis David, made this post-mortem portrait on commission from Foy’s widow, but refused payment, as the General was a personal friend. Maybe it’s projection, but to me the portrait seems emotionally bright, affectionate; set against a broiling storm, Foy’s face and hands are ethereal, his aspect resolute but peaceful. His decorations are fabulously wrought and, although they were earned on earth, they radiate as though they were adorned from on high.

And of course, it helps that the painting is almost eight-and-a-half feet tall, hung a few feet off the ground so the General towers over you from the mountain, his black cape swelling in the wind, enfolding the General in the warmth and transcendence of death.

It’s a lush, grand-manner military hero portrait, but it’s so strangely moving. You should go see it.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Detroit history, lost and found: Oliver Hazard Perry, Chevalier de Cadillac and City Hall relics

November 23, 2009 in History | 3 comments

perrys victory

Our Detroit history tour earlier this month left us with some unanswered questions about the fate of several artifacts from old City Hall, which was razed in 1961. We found some! Including a few we weren’t looking for.

Let’s check in, shall we?

I. THE CAMPUS MARTIUS

a. Find cannon from [Oliver Hazard] Perry’s victory.

These have moved to Belle Isle, standing guard in front of the Dossin Great Lakes Museum. These aren’t at all hidden, and it’s pretty common knowledge that they’re out there, but it took me stumbling on their latitude and longitude in the Historical Marker Database while I was looking for something else for the light switch to flip.

two cannons

(Also on Belle Isle: the camera batteries died, which happens a lot. Forgive the phone photography.)

Whilst waiting for some Oliver Hazard Perry admirers to conclude their photo op at the cannons,  we took a walk around the park and stopped to wonder at the tremendous limestone bell tower dedicated to Detroit News columnist Nancy Brown. Surrounded by a moat and a flock of evergreens, a few of which are fallen, behind a flaking iron gate, the structure is stately but gently blighted. I think the bells still ring, though.

nancy brown carillon

Nancy Brown was a beloved advice columnist who once inspired some 35,000 people to visit the Detroit Institute of Arts at the same time — maybe history’s first flash mob, an event the News called “Detroit’s greatest party.” Her bell tower, funded by her fervent readers, was christened in June, 1940. From a 6/24/40 Time article:

… Since 1934, at sunrise on Easter morning, Nancy Brown has sponsored a sunrise service on Belle Isle. Her readers, who flocked to the services in tens of thousands, heard preachers and speakers, but never were allowed a glimpse of her. With the fur collar of her coat turned up around her face, she mingled unnoticed among her admirers, for they had never even seen her picture.

Last week the Peace Carillon was unveiled at a sunrise dedication service on Belle Isle, and with it Nancy Brown was unveiled to her readers. Long before midnight, her audience began to gather in the grassy plaza around the limestone tower. Detroit police estimated that 100,000 people turned out to wait for Nancy.

At 4:45 a.m., as the sun rose over dewy treetops, the chimes pealed out Nearer, My God, to Thee … [and] diminutive Nancy Brown stepped to the lectern, peeped over and in a tremulous voice spoke to her readers for the first time.

c. Council chamber. Look at picture presented to Detroit by French Government, “Louis XIV delivering to Chevalier de Cadillac the ordinance and grant for the foundation of the City of Detroit.”

louis xiv and cadillac

We initially thought this painting, by Fernand LeQuesne, 1902, might be in the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts, but they told us “No dice!” and recommended we check in with the Detroit Historical Society. Curator Joel Stone says it’s in the collection for sure, but its whereabouts within the museum are still in question — Mr. Stone thinks the painting may be in storage, but his database is behaving curiously, and word on its current location is pending.

A friend recently told me about some “women statues” in a back lot at Fort Wayne, which after trying to track down the LeQuesne painting I found out were pieces of the old City Hall — statues of Art, Commerce, Industry and Justice, plus the building’s cornerstore, cornices, archway pieces and other slabs of sandstone are apparently stacked out in the woods behind the Fort.

Fort Wayne is also home to the building’s clock face and clock tower bell. I learned more at Buildings of Detroit and detroitblog, and you can too! A field trip is, obviously, in the works.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Changes afoot

November 9, 2009 in Uncategorized | No comments

ship and dragon plaque fw

This weekend — with its unbelievable 60 degree weather, a healthy serving of historical adventuring and a rollicking season finale of Mad Men — was one of the best ever. The Hounds Below got down with their howly selves at the Majestic Cafe, we took in a month’s worth of accumulated recyclables, we witnessed the bowel-shaking power of the colossal pipe organ at Old Mariner’s Church and watched a 100-year-old retired sea captain ring one of the eight tolls of the bell to commemorate lives lost on the Great Lakes, and part one of our self-guided itinerary from History of Detroit for Young People (published in 1933) was a success.

I took lots of pictures and will share them soon, BUT: I must warn you that I am taking more decisive reigns at this blog and moving to a self-hosted server, which will give me more autonomy in the way the site looks and feels. BONUS: I am doing most of the technical work myself, and teaching myself how to do it, from building a custom header to exporting my existing database. So it may look a little wonky for a while.

I didn’t want to make this move until I had a solid sense of what I really thought I was doing, blogging here, but now that I’ve spent a month or so clearing up my voice and trusting my instincts and chasing what excites me, I think it’s become pretty clear. Thanks for slugging through the uncertainty.

This week: downtown and Campus Martius, then (from the treaty at Fort Lernoult to the razing of City Hall) and now (where is Oliver Hazard Perry’s cannon?); Farmington’s Pernambuco Hollow; more of the usual scratching around in old cemeteries.

Tags: , , , , , , ,