USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Chronography of notable events in the history of the Northwest territory and Wayne County > Part 29
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When peace was assured he went to Connecticut and studied medicine, and in 1788 emigrated to Vermont where he practiced his profession, meanwhile holding several public positions, among them associate and chief justice of Rutland county, member of the Gover- nor's Council and of the State Legislature. In 1807 he was elected to
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Congress, and took part in the discussion and voted for the Act abolishing the slave trade, which passed in 1808. It was while he was a member of Congress that President Jefferson appointed him one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the Territory of Michigan. Resigning his seat in Congress, he accepted the position and started for the then almost unknown region of Michigan to enter upon the arduous duties which it imposed. In 1810 he removed his family, con- sisting of his wife and six children, from Fair Haven, Vt., to Detroit. The unsettled condition of the country, however, so affected the health of his wife that he was compelled, in the autumn of 1811, to send her and the children back to Vermont. In 1812, on the declaration of war with England, he being the only Revolutionary officer of experience, Gov. Hull appointed him to command a batallion of volunteers. On the surrender of Hull he refused to subject his corps to its terms and told his men to disperse and go where they chose. His son (James C. C.) and his son-in-law, Colonel Joseph Watson, and himself, were sent as prisoners of war to Kingston, Canada, and were subsequently paroled and went to their families in Vermont. After being regularly ex- changed the Judge returned to Detroit and resumed the discharge of his judicial duties, until appointed secretary of the Territory by Presi- dent John Quincy Adams.
Judge James Witherell died at his residence on the Campus Martius, Detroit, where the Detroit Opera House stands, January 9th, 1838. Both houses of the Legislature, then in session, and the Bar of the Supreme Court passed resolutions of respect and regret.
It is said of Judge Jas. Witherell that while not a profound lawyer, yet his strong mind and clear common sense, united with his industrious habits and upright purpose, made him an able and acceptable judge.
On November 11th, 1790, Judge Witherell married Amy Hawkins. She was descended from a Rhode Island Quaker family, related in direct line to Roger Williams. Her father's name was Charles and her mother's maiden name Sarah Olney. Her father's family removed from Rhode Island to Vermont in 1786. . Although of Quaker stock she was converted to Methodism at an early age and throughout life was a member of that church. She died in 1848.
Six children were born to the Judge and his wife: James Cullen C., July 14th, 1791, died at Poultney, Vt., August 26, 1813 ; Sarah Myra, born September 6th, 1792, married Colonel Joseph Watson, died March 22d, 1818, at Poultney, Vt .; Betsey Matilda, born in 1793, married Dr. E. Hurd, and died at Detroit in 1852; Mary Amy, born October, 1795, married Thomas Palmer in 1821, and died at Detroit March 19th, 1874. She had seven children, one of whom is now living, the Hon. Thomas W. Palmer. But one grandchild survived her demise, the daughter of Mrs. Roby, and she died very recently. B. F.
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H. Witherell, born 1797, died June 22d, 1867; James B., born May 12, 1799. He became a midshipman and died of yellow fever on board the United States ship Peacock, on a voyage between Havana and Hampton Roads.
BENJAMIN F. H. WITHERELL.
Benjamin F. H. Witherell, the second son of Judge James With- ell, born in 1797, and sent back to Vermont with his mother in 181I, returned to Detroit in 1817 and commenced the study of law in the office of Governor Woodbridge and was admitted to the bar in 1819. His admission to the United States Supreme Court was on the motion of Daniel Webster. From 1830 to 1840 he filled the offices of Probate Judge and Prosecuting Attorney in Wayne county. In 1843 he became the Judge of the District Criminal Court, composed of the counties of Wayne, Washtenaw and Jackson, which office he held untill 1850, when it was constitutionally abolished. A few years after this he was chosen circuit judge to fill the vacancy made by the resig- nation of Judge Samuel T. Douglas. At the expiration of this term he was again elected and had served four years at the time of his death. Judge B. F. H. Witherell had also filled several other positions of trust and honor. He was a member of the Legislature and of the Consti- tutional Convention of 1850. Among the positions of honor was that of president of the Historical Society and Soldiers' Monument Asso- ciation, both of which he held at the time of his death. He is said to have been the most skillful criminal lawyer at the bar and was uni- versally esteemed as an upright and honorable man, and had hosts of friends, especially among the French residents. He was the best informed man living, as to the early history of Michigan, and was called by his friends a " walking historical dictionary of Wayne county." He wrote several articles on the early history of Michigan which were published in the Free Press over the signature of "Hamtramack." Thir- teen of these sketches covered thirty-seven pages and were published in the Historical Sketches of Wisconsin. There are many others pub- lished since, which we purpose to collate for preservation.
Thomas W. Palmer says: "In his prime, Judge Witherell was over six feet in stature and about two hundred and forty pounds. He was genial and kindly in disposition, lenient in his sentences for first offences, but when an old offender was convicted he usually gave him the full term prescribed by law."
The eldest son of Judge Witherell, James B., was born in Detroit in 1828, and graduated at the Michigan University in 1848. He traveled through Spain with T. W. Palmer, was city attorney, was
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appointed second lieutenant in 1855, promoted to first lieutenant in June, 1860, gazetted twice for gallant conduct in fighting the Indians, was in Twigg's command at the beginning of the Civil War, and started north with those who remained true to the government. He was very near-sighted, and on boarding the steamer stumbled and fell overboard and was drowned. His body was recovered and buried by the Masonic fraternity at Port Isabell. He is said to have been a generous, gal- lant and brave man.
Judge Witherell was married three times. In 1824 to Miss Mary A. Sprague, at Poultney. They had one son and three daughters. Mrs. Mary A. Witherell, nee Sprague, died in August, 1834. In 1837 he married Delia A. Ingersoll. She had one son, Charles I. Witherell. Her death occurred in 1847, and in 1848 he married Casandra S. Brady, who died in 1863, leaving no children.
Benjamin Franklin Hawkins Witherell died June 22d, 1867. Only one child survived his death, Mrs. General Friend Palmer. She has since deceased (October, 1880). Three grandchildren also survived his death. One, the daughter of General Friend Palmer (Mrs. Capt. J. Hale), died in October, 1887.
ANDREW T. MCREYNOLDS.
" A brave man bears no malice, but forgets at once in peace the injuries of war."-Cowper.
We have an illustration of such a character as Cowper describes in the life of the subject of this sketch.
Colonel Andrew T. McReynolds was born in the town of Dun- gannon, Tyrone county, Ireland, December 25, 1808. At the age of twenty-two he left his native land and came to the United States, and took up his residence at Pittsburg, Pa. Soon after his arrival, the State of South Carolina passed certain laws in conflict with those enacted by Congress regulating foreign importation, and sought to enforce them against the order of the general government, whereupon General Scott was ordered to employ the army to suppress them. Among the first to volunteer his aid was the subject of this sketch, and he was elected an Ensign of the Duquesne Grays of Pittsburg-the ยท first volunteer military company organized west of the Alleghanies, after the war of 1812. The prompt action of the President, however, averted a collision between the military of the United States and the State of South Carolina, so that the Colonel was not called into active service.
He removed to the then Territory of Michigan in 1833, and settled in Detroit. In 1834, true to his characteristic public spirit and senti-
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ment, " That in peace we should prepare for war," he was one of four to initiate the organization of the Brady Guards, the first volunteer company in Michigan, and also was appointed Major of the Territorial Militia, then commanded by Major-General Williams, and was Lieut .- Colonel and Colonel of the Ist Regiment (Michigan Militia) eleven years. Meanwhile, he having prepared by its study, he was admitted to the practice of law, and soon took high rank as a lawyer. He was also active in the organization of the Montgomery Guards, and was their first commander in 1844. This organization is still active under the name of the Montgomery Rifles. In April, 1847, he was com- missioned Captain of Dragoons in the U. S. Army, resigning his seat as State Senator to take part under General Scott in the Mexican War. He was disabled for life in the dragoon charge at the gates of Mexico. For his services during that war he was complimented by the Presi- dent and the United States Senate.
At the close of the war he retired from the army and resumed the practice of his profession in the city of Detroit, which he continued for thirteen years, when the civil war occurred, and he was commissioned by President Lincoln, Colonel of the Lincoln Cavalry, the first cavalry regiment for the war, which he commanded for the year 1861, and was then promoted to the command of a brigade, and subsequently to that of a division. After serving in the army three years and two months, his term having expired, he was honorably discharged, and returned to Grand Rapids, where he has since been and is now in the active prac- tice of his profession.
In civil life he has held the following positions of honor and trust, viz .: Alderman of Detroit, 1837-8, Prosecuting Attorney of Wayne County in 1852, and Member of the Board of Education and its first President, and United States District Attorney for the Western Dis- trict of Michigan. In all, both military and civil, he has discharged the duties of the respective positions with honour to himself and fidelity to the public. Colonel McReynolds was a member of the National Con- vention which nominated William Henry Harrison, at Harrisburg, in 1839, and was elected a member of the Michigan Legislature the same year. He held the office of Indian Agent under John Tyler, he served as Director in the Detroit City Bank, was one of the charter members of the Detroit Commandery Knights Templars, is President of the Michigan and Vice-President of the National Association of Mexican War Volunteers, has been twice elected Commander of Custer Post, G. A. R., and subsequently Commander of the Department of Michi- gan Division, G. A. R. During his professional life, he has held the office of Circuit Court Commissioner and that of Master in Chancery, both State and National.
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ERALSY FERGUSON.
Eralsy Ferguson, the subject of this sketch, is well known as among the earlier residents of Detroit, and was born in Oneida county, N. Y. When but a lad his parents removed to Canada, taking him with them. In 1826, he came to Detroit, which has since been his home. Mr. Ferguson is full of incidents connected with the history of Detroit, from that period to the present. He can remember when communication was had between Detroit and Windsor by means of a small sail boat, called back and forth by blowing a horn, when this was succeeded by a steam craft whose hull consisted of two dugouts, joined together, and finally by the magnificent steamboats of the pre- sent day.
In 1829, his father settled upon a farm owned by Judge James Witherell, and for a number of years he was in the employ of the latter, during the summer season, and in winter attended the Detroit Academy.
In 1838, he became possessed through Judge Witherell, with eighty acres of land in Oakland county. In the winter of 1839 he commenced clearing and improving it, but after two months of hard labor decided he was not designed for a farmer, and returned to Detroit and commenced the work of transportation, employing a large number of horses for the business.
Most of the timber and logs used in the construction of the log cabins in the hard cider times of 1840 were drawn from the woods by his teams. During the winter of 1841, he established a passenger and freight line for transportation by teams between Detroit and Chicago. In 1844 he entered the service of the Michigan Central railroad, and advancing from one position to another, reached that of depot and train master, resigning that position January 1, 1875, after thirty years' connection with the road. He then turned his whole time to trucking and transfer of freight.
By good management and close attention to his affairs, Mr. Fergu- son has secured a competency, and while he still oversees his business, is not so closely confined as in former times.
Mr. Ferguson has a commission as first lieutenant issued to him by Governor Mason, in 1837. During the Patroit War of that year his company was called into service to guard the arsenal at Dearborn.
Mr. Ferguson, originally a Whig, united with the Republicans when that party organized, but has never been an office seeker or held a public office. In 1842, he married Miss Nancy Canfield, by whom he had four children.
As matters of interest, Mr. Ferguson permits the publication of the following :
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HEADQUARTERS FIRST REGIMENT, M. M.
DETROIT, May 29, 1845.
I hereby certify, that Ist Lieutenant Eralsy Ferguson, has deposited with me an affidavit, in accordance with law, setting forth that he was commissioned, equipped and did duty in the militia of the State of Michigan, for five years and upwards, and that he is by virtue of the statutes in such case made and provided, exempt from military duty therein, except as is in said statutes excepted.
Given under my hand at Detroit, this 29th day of May, A. D. 1845. The said Ferguson is honorably discharged.
ANDREW T. MCREYNOLDS,
Colonel Commanding Ist Regiment, M. M.
STEVENS T. MASON, GOVERNOR IN AND OVER THE STATE OF MICHIGAN :
To all who shall see these presents-Greeting :
Know Ye, That, reposing special trust and confidence in the patriotism, valor, fidelity, and abilities of Eralsy Ferguson, in the name and by the authority of the people of the State of Michigan, I DO HEREBY APPOINT him a First Lieutenant in the Militia of the said State. He is therefore carefully and diligently to discharge the duties of a First Lieutenant of the First Division, First Brigade, First Regi- ment, (C) Company, by doing and performing all the duties thereunto belonging. And I do strictly charge and require all OFFICERS and SOLDIERS under his command to be obedient to his orders as First Lieutenant. And he is to observe and follow such orders and direc- tions from time to time as he shall receive from the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, the Governor of the said State, or his superior Officer set over him, according to law. This COMMISSION to continue in force during the pleasure of the Governor of the said State for the time being.
[SEAL]
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have caused these Letters to be made Patent, and the great seal of the State to be hereunto affixed.
[SEAL]
GIVEN under my hand at Detroit, this Twenty- fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the sixty-second.
BY THE GOVERNOR :
STEVENS T. MASON. J. E. SCHWARZ, Adj't Gen.
RANDOLPH MANNING,
Secretary of State.
19
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GENERAL ORDER.
HEADQUARTERS FIRST REG'T M. M.
Agreeable to the new organization of the Ist Reg't, M. M .: The bounds of Company (C) will be as follows, viz .: Embracing all that part of the city of Detroit lying between Griswold and Bates street, and extending from Griswold street up Clifford street to Woodward avenue; up Woodward avenue to the Grand Circus; thence on a right line until it strikes the southern end of Witherell street ; thence up Witherell street to the northern limits of the city of Detroit; thence east along said limits to the rear end of Williams street ; thence down Williams street to the Grand Circus; thence on a right line to the rear end of Miami avenue; thence down Miami avenue until it intersects John R. street; thence along John R. street to Farrer street; thence down Farrer street to Farmer street; thence down Farmer street to Bates street; thence down Bates street to the river Detroit.
Agreeable to an order issued by Colonel Spencer, commanding First Regiment M. M., an election will be held in the above named Company at the Detroit Cottage, on Wednesday, the 6th instant, at seven o'clock, P. M., for the purpose of electing one captain and one lieutenant.
By LIEUTENANT E. FERGUSON, In Command.
DETROIT, May 4th, 1840.
GEN. JAMES E. PITTMAN.
General James E. Pittman is a native of Michigan, was born in 1826. The General is the father of the coal trade in Detroit, he having established a coal depot when only twenty-eight years of age. That article was used in Detroit prior, but there were no yards or dealers making it a specialty. He has continued his interest in the business up to the present time, the firm being Pittman & Dean.
The General has always been active and prominent in military affairs and was, early in life, a member of one or more volunteer com- panies. On the 21st of May, 1861, he was appointed state paymaster, making large disbursements to the troops in the service of the State, was a member of the State Military Board from September 19th, 1861, to November Ist, 1862, when he was appointed Inspector General, serving in that capacity until March, 1867.
The General was a member of the Board of Police Commissioners for a number of years, and withdrew upon being appointed to succeed E. F. Conely as Superintendent of Police, which position he now holds.
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He has always borne his share of the burdens in local, State and National affairs, contributing time, money and influence to advance and promote the welfare of each, thus shaping the destiny of the city and State to the achievement of results of which all citizens are justly proud.
The General married Miss Lizzie Hutchinson of Bristol, Pa., September 9th, 1851. They have no children living.
As an old member of the Historical Society of Detroit, by virtue of its having been merged into the Wayne County Pioneer Society, he became a member of the latter and is recognized as such.
REV. DAVID M. COOPER.
Rev. David M. Cooper, present pastor of the Memorial Presby- terian church of Detroit, is the son of David Cooper whose sketch will be found elsewhere, as well as that of his maternal grandfather, Col. Stephen Mack.
The Rev. David M. Cooper was born in Detroit, April 18th, 1827. Upon reaching the proper age he was sent to the schools of Detroit, and after obtaining the necessary preliminary preparation, entered college, taking a literary course.
Mr. Cooper in early life decided upon the ministry as a profession, and after a year spent at Princeton Theological Seminary, New Jersey, prosecuted his studies under the supervision of the Rev. Dr. Duffield. He was licensed by the Detroit Presbytery about 1850, temporarily, and afterwards supplied the pulpit of Rev. Mr. Atterbury, at Flint. In 1851 he was induced to take charge of the missionary work in the Saginaw valley. Hon. Albert Miller, of Bay City, relates the following: "In the spring of 1851 I was staying over night at the Northern Hotel, at Flint, where the office of the Flint and Saginaw stage was kept. In the evening a very fine looking young man came in and engaged pass- age for the next day to Saginaw, saying he would be found at Mr. Atterbury's, the Presbyterian clergyman. At that time tri-weekly stages were able to do all the passenger business between Saginaw and the outside world. The plank road was not completed and pass- age from Flint to Saginaw was anything but pleasant, and it was a wonder to his fellow passengers what should call the young man to Saginaw when the roads were so bad. It was suggested to him on the way that there must be some female attraction at Saginaw. I after- wards became acquainted with the young man (who was none other than the Rev. D. M. Cooper) and knew him long as the beloved pastor of the Presbyterian church at Saginaw." On Mr. Cooper's arrival at Saginaw he found that the membership consisted of but ten persons, of
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which number only three were males. He entered upon his work with some hesitation and had proceeded to prepare for the erection of a church edifice, when the excitement at East Saginaw drew away most of his congregation to that town. He still resolved to follow them with his ministrations and accordingly commenced holding afternoon service at East Saginaw, crossing the river in a canoe. With the exception of a Rev. Mr. Adderly, he was the first minister that preached in East Saginaw. The rapid growth of East Saginaw induced a corresponding increase of members to the church, and at the end of eighteen months, finding the labor of supplying the two churches too much for his strength, he turned over his East Saginaw work to the Rev. Wm. C. Smith, and also secured the services of the Rev. L. I. Root to organize the Presbyterian church at Bay City, then called Lower Saginaw.
Thus Mr. Cooper has the satisfaction of knowing that those two flourishing organizations sprang from the germ of the Saginaw City church planted by him. In 1859 he was compelled, on account of ill health, reluctantly to leave the valley, and after long and success- ful pastorates at Grand Haven and Albion took up his residence, upon the death of his father, in Detroit, the city of his birth, in the year I878. Preferring to work out, rather than to rust out, he immediately erected, largely at his own expense, and in honor of his beloved parents, that tasteful structure known as the Memorial Presbyterian church, situated at the corner of Clinton and Joseph Campau avenues. The congregation that now statedly worship within its walls was gathered together by his own exertions. For the last ten years he has ministered to them as their chosen pastor, without compensation, and still continues to do so with all the ardor of early youth.
Referring to the Memorial church, it is but proper, in connection `with a sketch of Mr. Cooper, to insert the following:
" The doors of the new Memorial church were thrown open at 2 o'clock Sunday afternoon, and in less than ten minutes each of the 425 sittings was occupied, while many people remained standing in the lobby and aisles, there being, it is estimated, over six hundred persons present. It was the first time that the new structure, complete even to holding an audience, was seen, and it is not too much to say that a more beautiful picture of such a character has never been seen in Detroit. The auditorium is a beauty, harmonizing in architectural design and ornamentation completely, having a series of eleven memorial windows, the larger one of which is in memory of the father, mother and wife of Rev. David M. Cooper, present pastor of the church. The remain- ing ten windows are historical memorials of the growth and progress of Presbyterianism."
At the close of the memoir, read by Mr. Cooper, of his father,
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mother and wife, for whom the church was erected as a memorial, he concludes as follows: "I know of no more suitable or better way to perpetuate their memory than to employ a portion of the fortune bequeathed us, in the erection of a house of worship wherein the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ shall be freely preached by one who was in infancy baptized in the name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost."
GENERAL O. B. WILCOX.
The subject of this sketch is a son of Wayne county, having been born in Detroit in 1826. He has distinguished himself and conferred honor upon the city of his nativity, and the nation of which he is a worthy representative, as a courageous soldier, as an honorable, high minded citizen and as a scholar of more than ordinary literary ability. In 1846 he graduated from West Point. During the Mexican war he served as lieutenant in the artillery and continued in the United States army until 1854, and on completing his legal studies was admitted to the bar and practiced law in Detroit until the breaking out of the Civil War in 1861, when he tendered his sword to the State and was appointed colonel of the First Regiment of Infantry, raised by the State under President Lincoln's call of April, 1861. His regiment was the first from the west at Washington to report for service. He was in command at Alexandria just prior to the first battle of Bull Run. He participated in that battle, in which he was wounded and taken prisoner and confined in Richmond prison for fifteen months, when he was exchanged. Not having recovered from the effects of his wounds and the debility occasioned by his long confinement, he returned to Detroit for a short time, when he again entered the army and served during the Virginia campaign of 1861 and 1862. Subsequently he was promoted to brigadier and major-general of volunteers for meritorious conduct at Spotsylvania and Petersburg. He served during the entire war, at its close was mustered out and appointed, by President John- son, assessor of internal revenue at Detroit. In 1867 he was appointed a colonel in the regular army and assigned to the command of the Twelfth Regiment United States Infantry, stationed at Angel Bay Island, near San Francisco. Subsequently he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general in the regular army and is now governor of the National Soldier's Home, Washington, D. C.
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