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1. Real Estate Titles in Detroit, Past, Present and Future

Description:
This 2-page letter was handwritten in fine black script on both sides of a slightly yellowed paper by Clarence M. Burton. The paper is printed with light blue lines and has a double red line near the top. The handwritten text is transcribed as follows: "Real Estate Titles in Detroit, Past Present and Future. Detroit's Founder, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, came on the 24th day of July 1701 and immediately commenced the erection of a palisaded fort. This work accomplished he set about purchasing food from the Indians, sufficient to keep his garrison and his Indian friends from want during the succeeding winter. Indians flocked in great numbers to his settlement, so that before the first years had passed he had nearly or quite 6000 people here. Cadillac understood that his appointment of Commandant gave him the ownership, and civil, and military control of the entire country and acting upon these rights he settled the Indians at various places near the new fort but he did not undertake to convey to them any parcels of land in fee simple. He gave them merely the right to occupy during his pleasure. As he was intent on building the post into a permanent colony, he proposed to give his soldiers and the civilians who came here, parcels of land with rights of ownership, and, with that ends in view, he settled many of these persons on garden plots and farms and village lots, promising to make them good conveyances when he might be permitted, by the French Government, to make proper deeds. In 1704 he obtained this authority and at once set about making transfers, to the citizens and soldiers, of the lands they were occupying under him. All of these transfers were similar in character to the feudal holdings in France. In all of them Cadillac, as lord of the manor, reserved certain rights to himself, such as a fine upon alienation; the obligation on the part of the grantee to set up a May Pole each year in front of the house of the commandant; the obligation of the grantee to grind his wheat at the mill of commandant; the payment of small annual dues for privileges of carrying on a trade, and make other like obligations. Cadillac was removed from his place in 1711 and the post fell to decay. The French Government refused to recognize the deeds Cadillac had made but it did not undertake to dispossess the people who held deeds from him. In the next forty years only a few patents or land transfers were made by the Governor and Intendant of New France, and none whatever were made by the succeeding commandants of Detroit. The Registry of Deeds that had been opened in Detroit by Cadillac was continued until it contained fifty or sixty pages of manuscript and was then removed and stored in the French Archives, and lost to every one interested, until accidently found and transcribed for me a few years since. The French ceased to govern Detroit upon the advent of Robert Rogers in 1760, and from that date until 1796 the English were in possession. Very few transfers of land were made during that period, excepting that there were many conveyances from Indian tribes to the English and French. A new registry of deeds was commenced about 1763 and maintained as long as the English remained here. General Anthony Wayne with the United States army under his command took possession of the post in 1796 and from that time dates our modern history in this department. Titles were very uncertain; generally without any solid governmental foundation; resting largely on possession and in tradition. The first effort was to begin anew with an undisputed ownership and, looking to that end, our government, in effect, set up title in itself to all lands. Commissioners were appointed by Congress to investigate and settle titles in the Detroit District, and those who had, before the coming of Wayne's army, been in possession of lands, laid their claims and proofs before these commissioners. If their claims were well founded and undisputed, or, if disputed, were found to be established, the commissioners accepted them and certified their finding to Congress. The government issued a patent, which was undisputable, to the applicant. This is the basis and foundation of all titles at the present time, and in theory and in proper practice no system of titles and transfers could be more simple. The grantee from government who wishes to transfer his title, has the proper deed of transfer drawn up and he executes it in due form and it is recorded with the County Registry. The new owner when he comes to sell, goes through exactly the same process. There are no fines to pay, no public officers to superintend the transaction, no unreasonable expenses to be borne. The process is simple, rapid, and inexpensive. Various modes have been devised to make the transfer of real estate more simple, but I doubt if this can be done in but one way. The only troubles we meet with now, are that conveyances and notaries are careless and owners of real estate are still more careless and indifferent. If some way could be devised so that conveyances could only be drawn by persons skilled in their work, and could be recorded, as soon as the transaction in completed, by a register who would employ only competent assistants in his office, there would be small need of delay in any real estate transfer. This is the millennium I am looking forward to in the century that will be ushered in at midnight to-night. December 31, 1900. C. M. Burton"
Date Issued:
1900-01-01T00:00:00Z
Data Provider:
Detroit Historical Society