The Nankin Township Historical Society

Plymouth Mail , June 23, 1899 The life of the prominent people of our towns are much the same as ours except that their trevails are given greater attention. If you recall, during the building of Henry Sustedt's [sic] factory at Romulus a tornado knocked it to the pilings. In this case it was spooked horses that knocked him down from his carriage to the iron bridge crossing the Rouge in Wayne causing a broken shoulder, two ribs, thigh and a thumb.

Plymouth Mail , May 18, 1888 I'm a conspiracy theorist on many subjects that others might think bizarre but in this instance I'm almost convinced that there was foul play concerning the Rouge River bridges. The statistical likelihood that two bridges--one near Newburg and the Merriman Bridge--in one area would collapse save for some kind of natural disaster, which is quite possible, is almost zero. Then again, the first article states that all the bridges in the area were in bad shape and I'm sure that the loads were too heavy, but I digress. Although it's highly doubtful that these were some of the bridges that were mentioned in the Schwarzburg articles from the 1830s, I suppose that it's possible. One of the accidents included August Blonk who was crossing the bridge near Newburg when he and his horses toppled over and he sustained a spine injury. The other incident included a Mr. Cole who was hauling a load of sand over the Merriman Bridge when it fell flat to th...

Alton Daily Courier , May 25, 1854 This is the second variation of the story of Tonquish and his son's deaths that differ from the standard version in Tonquish Tales by Helen Frances Gilbert. While in another newspaper rendition the death spiral started over a kicked dog whereby Tonquish's son shot and killed Tom Sargent for the misdeed. It was then that Capt. Macomb and his militia tracked down and killed the pair. In this version it starts over a shot deer which Tom Sargent, presumably though not named, claims the deer after Tonquish Jr. had shot and t racked it to him. Tonquish Jr. killed Sargent and the posse comes looking for him. When confronted with the story Tonquish denies knowledge of his son's whereabouts. One militiaman caught sign of Jr. hiding in the brush and raised to shoot at him whence Tonquish raised his gun in reply. Before he could fire both he and his son were gunned down and died. Which of these stories is true is left to the ages.

Detroit Free Press , December 9, 1852 The translation from reality to the written page for the Free Press was often an adventure of misinformation. While they usually got the story almost correct they seemingly misspelled, misnamed and misapplied every rule of fact-checking to get the paper to press as soon as humanly possible. In essence, publishing the story was more important than the story itself. In the case of the death of Chief Tonquish and his son by the same moniker, Tonquish, there are at least four renditions of the story. This one seems to be semi-faithful to the others in some regards and disparate in others. All seem to include a main participant by the name of Tom Sargent (sometimes Sargeant). In this instance the sect of Pottawatomie led by Chief Tonquish were returning to their home on the Livonia/Nankin border, where Schwarzburg was situated in the better portion of the last 75 years of the 19th century, after a day of trading their wares and gathering supplies. They ...