This is a recording of the 28th annual Tri-Cities Historical Museum's Heritage Dinner and meeting, held November 5, 1987. Guest speaker Wilbur Rykert gives an account of the life of Rix Robinson, one of Grand Haven's early settlers who gave the city its name. Rykert presents Robinson's early life, his political career, his fur trading business that included the Grand, Kalamazoo, and Muskegon Rivers. Robinson's successful relations with local Native American tribes are also highlighted. According to historian Wallace K. Ewing, "In 1821, he helped with a treaty between the U.S. Government and the Pottawatomie Indians. Another treaty in 1836 ceded all land north of the Grand River to the U.S. Government. Respected by both Native Americans and Whites for his fairness, intelligence, and knowledge of the wilderness, Rix was credited with founding West Michigan ... In 1821 he married Pemissquotoquay, "Flying-Cloud Woman," the daughter of a Chief of the Pere Marquette Indians [Chief Hazy Cloud]." Rykert also gives a general overview of Michigan history in the 1800s.
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