The Rousson Family
Pioneers Of the Downriver Area
by Frank Rathbun, November 25, 1952
Courtesy of The News Herald (originally published in The Mellus Newspapers)
On July 1, 1776, four days before the American Declaration of Independence was adopted in Philadelphia, a land transaction was made in the far-off Great Lakes region which was to greatly affect the development of what is today known as the Downriver area.
The Potowatami Indians, on that date, deeded (see image of recorded deed) to Pierre St. Cosme, "for love and affection," a huge tract of land which covered most of present-day Ecorse, Lincoln Park, Allen Park, and a portion of Wyandotte.
Extending along the Detroit River approximately 2,300 feet either side of the Ecorse Creek, the huge land grant ran back four miles between Southfield Road (St. Cosme Line) on the north and a line close to Goddard Road on the south.
St. Cosme, who was to become the first "land developer" in the Downriver area, had, for love and affection, been given a tract of land whose value today (1952) would exceed $20,000,000.
Born in 1721 at LaPrarie, Canada, St. Cosme died in Detroit in 1787. Neither he, nor his sons, Pierre junior, Dominique or Amable, ever settled on the huge grant, but sold it, in small strips, to more adventuresome residents of Detroit and Sandwich, Ontario.
Among the courageous pioneers, mostly French-Canadians, who purchased portions of the wood-covered wilderness, was Jean Baptiste Lerouz dit Rousseau, who migrated to the Great Lakes area from Montreal.
THE DETAILS of this early pioneer's life are lost on the pages of history. Records show only that he married Josephine Drouillard and had at least two children, twins, born in 1797.
The twins were Elizabeth, who married Benjamin LaParge, and secondly, Alexis Labadie; and Simon B. Rousseau or Rousson, (1797-1875) who played an important part in the development of the settlement of Ecorse and the Downriver section.
Although, Simon Rousson had 11 children, his two sons died unmarried and the surname of this pioneer family lives on only on Simon's tombstone in an Ecorse cemetery.
ROUSSON’S LAND was along the northern limit of St. Cosme's grant, between Southfield road and Bourassa. His home was probably located somewhere near the intersection of present-day West Jefferson and Southfield.
The homes of all the early Ecorse farmer-settlers were located fairly close together near the riverfront, with their lands stretching out behind their homesteads in narrow strips averaging 400 yards in width.
While such a method of laying out farms today seems strange and impractical, the system was admirably suited to the needs of the early settlers.
SINCE LAND value, in large part, was determined by proximity to navigable waterways, the system was designed to insure each land-owner a frontage on the Detroit river.
In addition, with the farms of such narrow width, homes could be built only a few hundred yards apart, thus permitting the religious and social intercourse which settlers desired.
A further advantage of living in close proximity was offered in the ease of spreading the alarm in case of Indian attack, an ever-present danger in the years preceding the War of 1812.
THE ALARM would be spread from house to house and the Roussons and other families could gather at a central point for mutual protection. In the earliest days of the settlement, all the residents would flee by river to the stockade at Detroit when the Indian menace threatened.
In the first decades of the last century, Indian wigwams were as common as log cabins along the riverfront. Gradually, however, the Indians retreated before the increasing tide of settlers.
As the need arose for grocery stores, overnight inns, blacksmith shops and other business establishments, the area near the Southfield-West Jefferson intersection began to take on the aspects of a permanent settlement. [Addendum: this settled area of Ecorse Township would soon become known as Grandport.]
IN 1836, Simon B. Rousson, together with Peter LeBlanc, Alexis Labadie and Louis Bourassa, laid out the first plat of the community and the development of Ecorse was begun.
Rousson's first wife, Therese Solo, died in the early 1830's and he was remarried to Valera Bagnol (1816-1903), a school teacher who had come to the region from the east to help answer the great need for teachers.
The daughters of Simon Rousson included Victorie, Angeline, [addendum: who married Edward Longtin]; Mary Sylvia, who married Alexis M. Salliotte; Josephine, who married a Geniac [addendum: Edward]; Cecilia, married a Laginess [addendum: Eli]; Eugenia, married Henry Senecal; and Henrietta, who married Alexis Riopelle.
Rousson's sons were Clarence, born in 1857, who died unmarried in 1908, and Simon W. Rousson, prominent Downriver lawyer, who died unmarried in 1894.
