USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Chronography of notable events in the history of the Northwest territory and Wayne County > Part 23
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His bravery never was questioned. When he appeared in com- mand of the Adams, Commodore Perry sent for him and reminded him that he was a paroled prisoner and that capture meant certain death, and suggested he had better go below and let his lieutenant command the ship; his only response was, "Commodore, if a man can't fight with a halter around his neck, he can't fight at all." The rest is known, for when the flag ship was sinking Perry had to call the Adams to his relief.
He married Catherine Navarre, who was a descendant in direct line of Jean Navarre, who was the natural son of Antoine de Bourbon, father of Henry IV.
Robert Navarre, the grandfather of Catherine, was sent to Fort Pontchartrain (Detroit) as sub-intendent and royal notary, where he married Maria Louisa de Mersac in 1734, from whom are descended all of the name of Navarre in Michigan and also in the States origin- ally embraced in the northwest territory, and were allied by marriage to the McDougals, Campaus, St. Martins, the McIntoshes, who subse- quently inherited the estate of the Earl of Moy; the Hunts, the Anthonys, the Langlades, among the pioneer settlers of Wisconsin, and the Macombs.
Robert, the eldest son and father of Catherine Navarre, received from the Pottawatomies a deed of their ancient village, a piece of land four arpents (about one-half mile) in width on Detroit river, and the whole depth of Grosse Isle. This grant was ratified by Henry Basset, commandent at Detroit in 1772 (July 15th) and subsequently confirmed by General Gage. On this land he erected the house in which he lived
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and died, which house Commodore Brevoort enlarged and improved, and which was subsequently known as the Brevoort homestead.
A brother of Catherine, Francois Navarre, who settled at Monroe, was a colonel in the war of 1812, and was the personal friend of Gen- erals Wayne, Winchester, St. Clair, Macomb and Cass. It is said that in his regiment there were thirty Navarres.
This marriage between Henry Brevoort and Catherine Navarre infused pure Dutch and French blood into the veins of their children, representing in them old and new Amsterdam and old and new France.
The fruits of this marriage were John, Robert, Ann, Elias, who settled in New Mexico, and Henry, who married Jane, the daughter of William Macomb and Jeannette de Marentette, on the 13th day of July, 1841, and who left three sons, William Macomb, who met his death at Cold Harbor, Va., June Ist, 1864, while fighting the battles of the Union during the late civil war; Henry Navarre Brevoort, who was born on the Macomb homestead, Grosse Isle, April 3d, 1848. Henry, after preliminary preparation, entered upon the study of law with Van Dyke, Brownson & Moran, and was admitted to the bar in the year 1874. He at once engaged in the active practice of his profession with such success that on November 5th, 1876, he was nominated and elected prosecuting attorney for Wayne county, and re-elected in 1878. That he performed the duties of that office in a manner acceptable to the public would seem apparent, from the fact that in 1887 he was elected Circuit Judge of the Wayne County Court, by a large majority. The Judge presides with much dignity and his decisions evince care and thought in their preparation.
When off the bench he is social, courteous and genial, has a kind word for all he meets, rich and poor alike, and thus has hosts of friends. In 1880 he married Caroline Miller, daughter of Hon. Joseph Miller, of Cleveland, Ohio. They have one child, Emma, who was born May 5th, 1881.
The third son of Henry Brevoort, Elias Thornton, after complet- ing his education, became connected with the Canada Southern rail- way, which relation he continued until appointed Deputy Collector and Cashier of United States Internal Revenue at Detroit. He held this position until very recently, when he resigned, and engaged in business of a more profitable and congenial character. He is unmarried.
DR. LEWIS CARLISLE.
The late Dr. Lewis Carlisle, was born at South Amboy, Middlesex county, New Jersey, November 15, 1789. His father, William, was born at Freehold, Monmouth county, N. J., September 29, 1738. The father
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of William Carlisle (John) was one of three brothers who came to America from Londonderry, Ireland, in 1702, settling in New Jersey, while the others located, one in Pennsylvania and the other in Virginia. They left two brothers behind, whose descendants now reside in Glasgow, Scotland.
As far back as the family can be traced they were more inclined to intellectual than business pursuits, being liberally educated. William, the father of the subject of this sketch, had prior to the Revolutionary War, accumulated quite a property at New Brunswick and Elizabeth, N. J., which the Tory element, then dominant, forced him to abandon, he having made himself obnoxious to the Tories by accepting the com- mand of a company of Independents. On his return from the army, after the battle of Monmouth, he found nothing but desolate grounds, where once had stood mills, houses, barns, and other evidences of his thrift. He married Elizabeth Anderson in 1789. She was a native of New Jersey, born at Reading, Somerset county, December 2, 1748, and was a lineal descendant of Major Anderson, who was killed at Culloden. Two sons were born to them, Lewis, the subject of our sketch, and William, both of whom were educated as physicians. William, the father, died at Minaville, Montgomery county, N. Y., October 24, 1808, and Elizabeth, his wife, November 10, 1835. Their remains lie in the cemetery of that village.
Lewis Carlisle, after a preparatory course, became a student of Professor Jacob Delamarter, who was subsequently President of Berk- shire Medical College, and the first President of Cleveland College, Ohio. On completing his studies, he entered the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons, graduating therefrom in 18II. He was appointed surgeon of the New York Hospital in 1812. The celebrated Dr. Valentine Mott, was his contemporary and associate. In 1813 he was appointed by De Witt Clinton, Surgeon, with the rank of Colonel of the New York troops, on the Northern frontier. At the close of the war he became a partner of Dr. Delamarter, and practiced in Mont- gomery county, near Johnstown, for a number of years. The appoint- ment of Dr. Delamarter to the Presidency of the Berkshire Medical College, dissolved the partnership, and he removed and established himself in Monmouth county, N. J., also resuming his relations with the New York Hospital, visiting it weekly.
In 1832 he made an extended trip to the Northwest Territory, visiting Detroit and what is now Chicago, then known as Fort Dear- born. On his return from this tour, he removed to Lyons, Wayne county, N. Y., where he practiced his profession for three years, when he came to Detroit and subsequently located with his family in the township of Plymouth, Wayne county, where he resided until his death.
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His only brother, William, was a prominent practitioner in Jeffer- son county, as well as member of the New York Legislature, and a colleague of Horatio Seymour, for several terms. They were warm personal friends during life. William died at Elgin, Illinois, March 4, I868.
January 6, 1811, Dr. Carlisle married Polly Croul, at Throopsville, N. Y. She was a sister of the father of Jerome Croul, whose sketch will be found elsewhere, together with a history of her family. She was born September 11, 1792. The grandfather of Mrs. Polly (Croul) Carlisle, was the godson of Frederick the Great, his father being an officer in the Prussian army, and his mother the daughter of an attache of the English embassy at the court of Berlin.
Polly Carlisle, nee Croul, is still living and resides in Detroit. Dr. Lewis Carlisle died January 25, 1858, leaving his wife Polly and seven children living, viz .: Mrs. Catharine Thayer, Mrs. Elizabeth Mead, William L. and Fred. Carlisle of Detroit ; Lewis, of Newark N. J., Mrs. Hannah Plumstead, and Mrs. Antoinette Gibson, all born in the order named.
Fred. Carlisle, the second son of the doctor, was educated for a physician, but never practiced. He is well known in Detroit and throughout the State, and somewhat throughout the United States, from his being Grand Secretary of the Union League of America dur- ing the late civil war, and as Supervising Agent of the U. S. Treasury Department, also of the P. O. Department from 1864 to 1869. His record, officially, is found in the history of the Treasury and P. O. Departments, in the early history of the Republican party. At the dictation of the late Senator Jacob M. Howard, he drew the resolutions presented by and adopted at the Jackson Convention of 1854, and now has in his possession the original manuscript, embracing the platform of the Republican party. It is said there is not a town or hamlet in Michigan where he is not personally known to some of its residents. The political history of Washtenaw, Jackson, Ingham, Livingston, Monroe, St. Clair, Macomb, Oakland and Wayne, are replete with the mention of his acts in the early history of the Republican party. The following from the pen of E. W. Meddaugh, demonstrates his charac- teristics : " A more efficient and faithful man never held place under any government, as the records of the U. S. Treasury Department will show. * " And the records of the U. S. Courts in the North- ern and Northwestern States furnish evidence as to his official history.
July 10, 1853, he married Miss Charlotte M. Ames, a native of Vermont, who was born in the town of Georgia, on the shore of Lake Champlain, April 12, 1835. They have two sons and four daughters, all living.
DON M. HENDERSON.
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GEORGE W. PATTISON.
Few among the present residents of Detroit are more familiar with its history and its old settlers than George W. Pattison. His knowledge of the men and women who have lived, moved and been identified and prominent in Michigan for the past fifty years is not con- fined to Detroit, but extends throughout the State. His recollections and criticisms of the statesmen, politicians and business men, their character, peculiarities and contributions toward the growth and development of the city and State, furnish the evidence that he has been a close and intelligent observer of men and the current events of their times.
George W. Pattison was born at Farmington, Ontario county, New York, May 5th, 1817. His father, Sunderland Pattison, and his mother, Gardner, were Quakers and natives of Rhode Island. His grandfather, Sunderland Pattison, was one of the fighting Quakers, and served as a captain in the War of the Revolution. The Gardners, however, were non-combatants at that period, and known as the "Royal Gardner family of Rhode Island." The father of George W. was prominent in the early history of western New York, and was one of the contractors for the Erie canal, advancing the money upon the State bonds for the construction of a portion of it.
In 1834 he came to Michigan, locating in Calhoun county, where he built mills and improved large tracts of land, and where he died in I839. The sons surviving were, Sunderland Gardner Pattison, of Marengo, George W., the subject of this sketch, and William G., of Kalamazoo.
The early boyhood of George W. Pattison was spent on his father's farm and at the academy of his native town. When but ten years of age he entered the printing office of Marshal & Dean, who pub- lished a weekly paper called The Album. The printer's apprentice of those days had more than the mechanical part to learn. He was com- pelled to study art, literature and other sciences, so that at the close of his apprenticeship he was prepared for college. He entered Union College, from which he graduated in the classical course in 1834, and in the spring of that year published "Lectures on Geography." This proved successful and encouraged him to go to Buffalo and establish the Western Star, the first daily paper published in that city. Buffalo then had a population of about 5,000. Col. Daniel Munger was his associate in the conduct of the paper, while James Faxton was the nominal pub- lisher. There was no telegraph at that day and it took seventy-two hours to get news from New York City. Soon after starting this publication the cholera appeared, and when the paper had reached its seventy-eighth number, Colonel Munger and himself concluded to
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come to Detroit, but found the cholera worse than at Buffalo. Never- theless, they went to work on the Free Press, then a weekly paper published by Sheldon McKnight. They remained for some months in Detroit, when becoming infected with a desire to see more of the country, Colonel M. and himself took a tramp west and south, work- ing in most of the cities east of the Mississippi until 1836, when they returned to Michigan and started the Calhoun County Patriot at Marshall. In the fall of this year he left Munger and went to Niagara Falls and started the Niagara Falls Journal for Benjamin Rathbun, who was at that time a prominent man and owned nearly all the land about Niagara Falls, and proposed to utilize the water power at that point, and make millions out of the real estate. It appears, however, that Rathbun was somewhat of a visionary, and unfortunately used the signature of his friends, without their knowledge, on his notes, and was arrested for forgery. The material for the paper, it appears, had been purchased by Rathbun on credit from N. Lyman, a type founder in Buffalo. George had got out but one number of the paper when Rathbun was arrested, and knowing that Lyman was the real owner, and being a friend of his, he immediately packed up all the matter in the forms and shipped it to Lyman at Buffalo. Rathbun was con- victed and served a term in the State's prison, and subsequently kept a hotel in New York, where he died. Meanwhile a great boom had started in the west. Towns and cities were springing up, and among them Grand Rapids, Michigan. Lucius Lyon, Charles Carroll, and others had organized the Kent County Land Company (William Richmond was agent at Grand Rapids), and feeling the want of a news- paper the company purchased from Lyman the material of the Niagara Falls Journal and shipped it by the Steamer Don Quixot, but the wrecking of the steamer on Thunder Bay compelled its transfer to a sail vessel, and the press and office equipments did not reach Grand Haven until late in the season. The delay, together with other vex- ations, inclined the Kent company to offer to dispose of the office, and George, although a minor, gave his notes for $4,100 for the entire material, and after overcoming many obstacles in getting it to Grand Rapids, he was able to establish the office and issue the first number of the Grand River Times, April 18th, 1837. The publication of the first copy of this paper was a great event, and all the prominent citi- zens were at the office to see it come off the new Washington hand press. Louis Campau subscribed for 500 copies, paying him in advance $1,000. The Kent company took 500 and paid in advance. A large number of other parties took from ten to twenty-five copies, paying in advance .. Under these favorable auspices, Mr. Pattison made this a successful venture.
In the spring of 1838 Mr. Pattison sold the Grand River Times to C. I. Walker (now Judge Charles I. Walker, of Detroit), and after
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spending a few months in Texas, he returned to Michigan, married Miss Mary A. Wright in August, 1838. She was the daughter of Benjamin Wright, an old settler, a millwright by trade, and built the first mill at Grandville for George Kitcham.
Mr. Pattison then became a Quaker preacher, but after remaining in the ministry for several years, the old love for politics returned, and in 1844 he took charge of the Hillsdale Gazette for Meade & Swegles, and conducted the paper through the campaign of Polk to the satisfaction of its owners and the Democratic party.
In 1846 he came to Detroit and, in connection with Colonel Daniel Munger, started the Daily Commercial Bulletin in the interest of the Free Soil party and as a competitor of the Free Press. Although Free Soil in principle, the paper advocated the election of General Cass, supporting him strongly during the canvass.
In 1848, the Capital having been located at Lansing, Messrs. Pattison and Munger established there the State Journal, running it in connection with the Detroit Commercial Bulletin. They were also elected State printers. They then, after running the Bulletin two years, sold out, and transferring their subscription list to the Detroit Free Press, and finding the State printing unprofitable, Mr. Pattison returned to Detroit and engaged in the book and job printing, his office soon after being destroyed by fire. He, in 1852, started the Michigan Temperance organ, and through its influence succeeded in getting the prohibitory law passed by the legislature. This he shortly sold to good advantage and established the Fireman's Journal, which he also made a pecuniary success, and in 1861 was appointed sutler for the Thir- teenth Michigan Infantry. On his return in 1863 he started the True Democrat, The Workingman's Friend, an Agricultural, and one or two other journals, and in 1864 he engaged in the old book business which he has made profitable and still continues.
In 1869 he purchased the Orchard Hill farm, which has proved, under his management, a valuable investment.
As before stated, Mr. Pattison married Mary A. Wright. She died in 1869. They had one son, who died at the age of sixteen, and five daughters, and all (save one) are married. In 1872 he married his first wife's sister, Julia, who was the widow of Judge David Sturgis, of Clinton county. She died July 23d, 1889.
Mr. Pattison's only unmarried daughter, Miss Julia, has almost entire charge of the book store. She is well posted on books of every sort, particularly the odd, rare and curious.
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STEPHEN MACK.
Inasmuch as this work is simply designed to commemorate, with a view to preserve, the record of those men who laid the foundation upon which has been erected the metropolis of Michigan, we do not hesitate to use in this compilation what others have written or said in respect to them, or to copy verbatim the words of others. So that in recounting what the subject of this sketch did, by which the future may diagnose the man, and judge how much he, by his acts, and their results, has contributed toward making the present Detroit.
Stephen Mack, was the son of Solomon Mack, who was born at Lynn, Connecticut, in 1735, and at the early age of four years was thrown upon the cold charity of the world. His was a life of hard- ship : shipwrecked at sea-captured and held as a prisoner of war- maimed, and worn out, he died and was buried at Gibson, New Hamp- shire. Such was the stock from which Stephen sprang. He was also born at Lynn, in 1764. " He lived with his father, from whom he acquired many of those traits of energy and indomitable perseverence which characterized his after life." While yet a lad, he moved with his father and mother to New Hampshire.
Stephen (as well as his father) took an early and zealous part in the revolutionary struggle, and was distinguished for his patriotism and bravery, and at its close returned to New Hampshire, and engaged in farming and mercantile business. After a few years he removed to Tunbridge, Vt., where he pursued the same business until 1807, when he removed to Detroit, and became a partner with Thomas Emerson. Col. Mack left his family, which consisted of twelve children, at Tun- bridge, until 1822, in order that his children might enjoy the educa- tional advantages, which Detroit at that day could not afford them. " One of his daughters, Lovicy, who married David Cooper, preceded the rest of the family some four years, and took charge of his house, which was a two-story building on Jefferson avenue, just west of Fire- man's hall."
At the time of Hull's surrender, Emerson and Mack were doing a large business. Fearful that their goods would be destroyed, they packed them up, together with their books and papers, and gave them in charge of Captain Muir, who controlled the Government storehouse. Col. Mack himself was made a prisoner and sent to Quebec for his supposed influence over the American troops. Mean- while the business of Emerson & Mack languished and did not revive until 1816, at which time David Cooper became their chief clerk.
In 1818, Oakland county being open to settlement, Colonel Mack, on the 5th of November, organized an association consisting of William Woodbridge, Solomon Sibley, John L. Whiting, Austin E. Wing,
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David C. Mckinstry, Benjamin Stead, Henry I. Hunt, Abram Edwards, Alexander Macomb, Archibald Darrow, and Andrew G. Whitney, of Detroit, and William Thompson, Daniel LeRoy, and James Fulton, of Macomb, under the name of the Pontiac company, and, pur- chasing a large tract of land, laid out the present city of Pontiac, con- structed a road from Detroit to the new city, and also built mills, erected buildings, and thus laid the foundation of what has since become a beautiful and thriving town. The Colonel at that time asso- ciated Solomon Sibley and Shubael Conant with him, and erected the first flour and saw mill on the Clinton river, which were completed in 1821. The event was duly celebrated by the nomination of Solomon Sibley, as Oakland county's choice, for delegate to Congress, which was subsequently ratified by other counties, and he was elected to Congress from the Territory of Michigan.
The investments of Mack and Conant at Pontiac resulted some- what disastrously at first, owing to delays on the part of the govern- ment in paying certain claims for advances made in its behalf by the firm; and the better to look after their interests, Colonel Mack, in 1823, took up his permanent residence at Pontiac, and was subsequently elected a member of the first Legislative Council of the Territory.
Colonel Mack, with great foresight, made many valuable pur- chases of real estate in Wayne county, also, among them, the block between Bates and Randolph, fronting on Atwater, extending to the river, the corner where now stands the Board of Trade building, the four lots now occupied by the Detroit and Cleveland Steam Navigation company, the VanDyke farm, the valuable stone quarry near Trenton, now owned by the Sibleys, and a considerable portion of the present site of Wyandotte.
"Stephen Mack first acquired his military title as commander of a Vermont regiment, and when a battalion was organized to protect the frontier of Michigan, he became captain of a company of infantry."
Colonel Mack married Miss Temperance Bond, of Gilsom, New Hampshire, in 1788. They had twelve children.
Alter the death of Colonel Mack, Mrs. Mack removed to Kirk- land, Ohio, where she had a daughter, whose husband was remotely related to the Mormon leader, Jo. Smith; but she, nor none of the family ever endorsed Mormonism. She died at Kirkland at the age of eighty years, and not while on a visit to the Mormon capital, as errone- ously stated by some other biographers.
Colonel Mack was in every sense a self-made man. His natural abilities were of a high order. Physically, he possessed a powerful frame, great energy, excellent judgment, a genial temperament, and commanded the respect and love of his fellow citizens. He died at Pontiac, November 11, 1826, at the age of sixty-two.
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DAVID COOPER.
"His career, though a remarkably successful one, was not char- acterized by any very startling incidents, nor by any bold operations incurring great risks and involving large profits or losses. He did not believe in mere luck or chance, but rather relied upon his own efforts, prudence and merit. He never indulged in extravagancies or trivial amusements. Scrupulously honest himself, he accorded to others their just dues and demanded the same rule of action toward himself. He despised low, cunning and trickery in all its forms and would hold no intercourse with those whose moral and business character would not bear the strictest scrutiny. It was Mr. Cooper's purpose in early life to discipline himself to meet all the contingencies incident to a business life. * * As a citizen he was respected by the community and from time to time received from it tokens of confidence and regard. He never betrayed a trust or disappointed a friend.
Though his
charities were not the topic of general laudation * * there are those who will bear testimony to his liberal gifts for worthy objects but bestowed in so unpretentious a manner as not to attract public notice."-The above is a sketch from George L. Whitney.
David Cooper was born in Montreal, Canada, November 25th, 1789, and was of Scotch descent, his grandparents being natives of Edinburgh. He came to Detroit in 1799, a lad of but ten years of age, " without influential friends and no relatives, except a widowed step- mother of slender means." Being thus necessitated to earn his own living he accepted an apprenticeship with Mr. James Henry, then a merchant and carried on a tannery also. His store was on St. Ann street, now Jefferson avenue, just west of the present site of the Michi- gan Exchange.
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