Philetus S. Church House

Philetus Swift Church was born in 1812 in Riga, New York, the son of Jesse and Margery Munsen Church.[2] He was named for Philetus Swift, whom his father had fought under in the War of 1812.[2] He attended local schools and spent some time in an academy in Palmyra, New York. In 1831, Church hired on as a store clerk in Byron, New York, and in 1835 moved to Oakfield, New York to start his own business. In 1837, he married Elizabeth Duncan Wells, a granddaughter of Samuel Taggart.[2] The couple had three sons, one of whom died in infancy.[2] The other two were Jesse Wells Church and Philetus Church Jr.[3]

Church remained in Oakfield and the nearby Caryville until 1841; during this time he over-extended himself in supporting the founding of a local school and went bankrupt.[2] In 1841 he moved to Detroit and began clerking at a store there. In 1845, Church traveled north intending to search for copper, but instead became engaged in business in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.[2][4]

In 1846, Philetus and Elizabeth Church and their sons Jesse Wells and Philetus Jr. moved to Sugar Island and founded the settlement of Church's Landing at this site.[3] There they built a trading post and house[5] and began trading with the Indians living there.[2] As his business increased, Church increased the size of his facilities.[2] Church's landing eventually contained two docks, a sawmill, dry-dock, and a small shipyard.[6]

Church's Landing was a natural stopping point for ships, so Church began supplying passing steamships with wood for their boilers.[2] He also dealt in furs, maple syrup, vegetables, ice, milk, and soap.[6] Church erected a sawmill and shingle-mill,[2] and sold shingles, fence posts, pilings, and telegraph poles in addition to steamboat wood.[6] The family also began a shipbuilding business in about 1853.[4] The businesses at Church's Landing eventually employed up to 35 people, and by 1861 was doing $17,000 to $27,000 worth of business annually.[6] Additional settlers joined Church to live at the location.[6]

In 1850, Juliette Augusta Magill Kinzie of Chicago was on a pleasure cruise and stopped at Church's Landing to take on wood.[2] The Churches provided her with some refreshments, including raspberry jam; Kinzie immediately took a liking to it and purchased some.[2] Back in Chicago, she used it in entertaining friends, leading to a demand for Church's raspberry jam.[2] The next year, Church began making raspberry jam for market, a business that by 1878 had increased such that he was manufacturing six to twelve tons of jam yearly, up to the level that the Sugar Island crop could support.[2] A contemporaneous account also notes that the Church family was "noted for the making of raspberry jam, which is sold in large quantities, and shipped to Eastern and Southern markets."[5]

In 1862, Jesse Wells Church constructed a house for his father, mother, and brother, using materials from the family sawmill.[3] In addition to Juliette Kinzie, many other celebrities stopped by Church's Landing while their ships were taking on wood, and while there visited the Churches.[2] These include Horace Greeley, Charles Sumner, John McLean, and Mary Todd Lincoln.[2]

In 1868, Jesse Wells Church, then a medical doctor, moved to Traverse City, Michigan and then to Harbor Island (near Drummond Island) with his wife and children.[7] There he continued the family shipbuilding business, building craft until at least 1910.[7] Elizabeth Church died in 1876,[2] and Philetus Church Sr. decided to retired in that same year.[3] Philetus Church died on July 22, 1883.[6] With the loss of the trading post, Church's Landing faded as a settlement.[3] This house is the only structure left marking its location.[3]

The Philetus S. Church house is a Greek Revival structure, one of the few in Chippewa County.[3]