The schooner Madeline led a long and varied career on northern Lake Michigan. For the most part she served her owners as a trading schooner, but she also served briefly as a lightship and later became the first private school in the Grand Traverse region.

The Madeline was built in Fairport, Ohio, in the winter of 1844-45, undoubtedly for owners at Mackinac Island. In her early days she carried a fancy scroll figurehead. The island was her home for the first seventeen years of her existence, and her owners include Henry Selby, William Scott, William C. Hubert, George Kirtland, Thomas Chambers, and the Fitzgerald brothers. In her early years she probably served the commercial fishing industry carrying barreled fish to the Lower Lakes and salt (for preserving the fish) on the return trip.

In the summer of 1847, the schooner Ocean ( the government lightship stationed in the Straits of Mackinac ) required immediate repairs and the Madeline was chartered as her replacement for several months for $450. The following September Madeline went ashore in an early fall storm at Beaver Island. Fortunately, her owners were able to refloat the Madeline and she returned to service after repairs costing $300.

In the winter of 1851-52, Madeline journeyed to Grand Traverse Bay with William, Michael and John Fitzgerald, William Bryce, and Edward Chambers aboard seeking an education. In the words of S. E. Wait, who became their teacher: "An eager desire to learn was the occasion of their coming. Here in the wilderness, they would be removed from the allurements that night distract their attention in more populous ports. Regular hours of study were observed, and the men voluntarily submitted to strict school discipline. Spelling, reading, writing, and arithmetic were the studies best suited to their needs. The evenings were taken up with blackboard exercises. Out of school hours they had plenty of snowballing in which they engaged with the delight of genuine school boys."

Wait's students went on long careers on the Lakes. All the Fitzgeralds served many years as Captains, William and John became prominent in the marine industry of Milwaukee. John Fitzgerald was the grandfather of Edmund Fitzgerald, namesake of the ill-fated ore carrier. Bryce was lost to history, but Chambers served for many years as lightkeeper at Whitefish Point on Lake Superior. Wait himself enjoyed a long career as a druggist, photographer and historian in the Grand Traverse area.

In 1856, Madeline is reported to have carried Mackinac Islanders to Beaver Island when the Mormons were forced out after the assassination of King Strang. Madeline went to Milwaukee in 1862 where she was owned and captained by Peter Colberg and Charles Nelson. Several years later she was abandoned and probably ended her days settling quietly in the mud of one of the Milwaukee rivers. However, her legacy burns as a symbol of ingenuity, perseverance, and spirit of our Northern Michigan pioneers.