USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Chronography of notable events in the history of the Northwest territory and Wayne County > Part 33
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When a young man he joined a company of the New York militia, and served his time with a hearty zest and love for the service in carry- ing a musket, and as one of the musicians playing the fife. It was the good old days of the fife and drum music, which he was not alone of the opinion has never been excelled for stirring power by any other mar- tial music that has since been devised. There are those still living in Livonia, who listened nightly to the music of his old fife with which he in later years made the woods ring around his dwelling after a hard days' work on his farm. Any allusion to his old training days in the militia always aroused his old time fire and enthusiasm.
There was a custom prevalent among the rank and file of the militia in Rensselaer county, N. Y., a rollicking, boisterous, merry cus- tum, of starting out before break of day to wake up the officers. This was done by going quietly up to their houses to the nearest room or window where the officer slept, and suddenly, and without any noise or note of warning, discharging heavily loaded muskets. He always insisted, with a merry laugh, that one salute was effectual. He was not behind in this sport. On one occasion he loaded his musket much more heavily than usual, and going quietly up to the window of the room where the officer to be awakened slept, raised the musket over his head and fired. The musket burst, and a piece of the gun struck his lower jaw and passed entirely through his face, leaving a wound, whose large ugly scar, he bore to his grave. It always troubled him when he shaved.
In his earlier years in Livonia, his principal market was the village of Plymouth, where he bartered his farm products with the merchants
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there for such things as he needed in the plain, homespun life he then lived. Among these merchants were the brothers Henry and Peter Fralick, Thomas P. May, John S. Scattergood, and Daniel Myers, men whose names will long be remembered in that village as high-minded, honorable, upright, public spirited citizens and merchants. Occasion- ally journeys were made to Detroit. The route for all that section in those early days lay along the old Ann Arbor road from Wallaceville, by the old TenEyck place, near Dearborn, along what is now the southern border of Woodmere Cemetery, by Delray, then consisting solely of the log tavern of the widow McGregor, thence by Fort Wayne and the old river road to Detroit.
Mr. Chapman was the sole survivor of all the men who lived in all that section of Livonia and Redford, when he moved there. He had a superb constitution which was never impaired by any bad habits, and he enjoyed robust health. He was temperate in all his habits, and his life closed as naturally, quietly and peacefully as the ripe apple drops from its stem. He had no disease. He had simply lived out the full measure of his days.
In personal appearance he was about five feet ten inches in height, average weight about one hundred and sixty pounds when in his prime, a penetrating blue eye, high forehead, auburn hair, which turned gray early. He never wore a beard. He walked erect and with a resolute mein and look. His was not a smooth face, but had the rugged out- lines of a man born for action. He had beetling brows, one of those faces of hill and valley that indicate the positive, reliable man.
Six farmers, his neighbors and friends, who had known him long- est of the second generation from the pioneers, acting as pall bearers, bore his lifeless remains on September 20, 1883, out from his old home and under the magnificent evergreens and maples he loved so well, to the hearse which bore them to their last resting place.
He has gone to his fathers, been gathered to his rest.
€
EDWARD LYON.
Edward Lyon was born at Shelburn, Vermont, in 1805, and served on board of steamboats as steward and clerk in early youth. In 1833 leased the Franklin House at Cleveland, which he kept three years; came to Detroit in the spring of 1836, and from thence, after spending a short time in business at Ionia, in 1840 purchased the National Hotel, on the site now occupied by the Russell House. This he ran six years, when he purchased the Michigan Exchange, which he owned at the time of his death.
Mr. Lyon demonstrated what pluck, combined with industry and
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good habits, can accomplish in accumulating an independent fortune, and died possessing the confidence and esteem of a large circle of acquaintances and friends in the State.
He was a member of the City Council one term; at his death was senior warden of St. Paul's Episcopal Church.
FRANCIS RAYMOND.
In the year 1832 Andrew Jackson was President of the United States, George B. Porter was governor, Stevens Thompson Mason was secretary and acting governor of the Territory of Michigan, and Levi Cook was mayor of Detroit, then a city with a population of two thousand five hundred inhabitants, who were mainly interested in the successful prosecution of the Black Hawk War. During the same year the cholera appeared in Detroit, having been brought here by a detachment of General Scott's army on its way to the seat of war. It spread so rapidly that of the two thousand five hundred inhabitants only one thousand five hundred remained, the rest having died or fled to the country. The stores were closed and all business was suspended. All was gloom in the city, and in the country bridges over streams were destroyed and guards stationed on all roads to prevent the panic stricken people from the city passing to the country towns. It was at this period that the subject of this sketch landed in Detroit.
Francis Raymond was born in the city of New York, December 15th, 1816. His education was such as the common schools of the city afforded, and at the age of sixteen a brother-in-law (the venerable Horace Hallock, then a merchant of Detroit), induced him to come west and take a position in his store. He landed at Detroit in May, 1832, and immediately entered upon his duties with Mr. Hallock. In 1840 he became a partner and under the firm name of Hallock & Ray- mond continued the business until 1848, when Mr. Raymond went into the book trade, which he conducted for a great number of years, during which he absorbed the firms of Morse & Sellick, Thomas Cook & Company, Kerr, Morley & Company and had as partner at one time the late T. K. Adams. The firms of Hallock & Raymond, clothiers, and Francis Raymond & Company, booksellers, were extensively and favorably known in Detroit and throughout the State. Mr. Hal- lock is still in business and is the oldest living merchant in Detroit.
Mr. Raymond has been identified with all the benevolent, edu- cational and moral enterprises in Detroit since 1832. He was one of a number of boys and young men who, in the winter of 1832-3, associated in the movement which led to the organization of the Detroit Young Mens' Society, and for eight years was its secretary. It was
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incorporated in 1837 and his name is found in the act of incorporation. Himself and wife were two of the thirteen original members of the First Congregational church. It was organized December 25th, 1844. He was then elected clerk of the church and has retained that relation to it up to the present time. He was chosen a deacon March 2nd, 1854, and is at this writing the oldest in time of service of the present Board of Deacons.
As a business man, as a public citizen and as a church member he has maintained the character of a man, losing sight of self interest in promoting what he thought was right.
On the 6th day of January, 1842, he married Miss Ruth Rice. She was the daughter of Dr. Justice Rice, a physician of eminence, who came to Detroit in 1826, and died in 1850. She was born in Car- lisle, Schoharie county, New York, January 22nd, 1822, and was brought by her parents to Detroit in 1826. Mr. and Mrs. Ray- mond have had eight children, two of whom died in infancy. They have two sons and four daughters living. One of his sons (Francis, Jr.,) entered the army July 24, 1862, as commissary sergeant of the Twenty-fourth Regiment of Michigan Infantry; April Ist, 1864, was commissioned lieutenant and appointed adjutant of the First Michi- gan Infantry; May 5th, 1864, was wounded at the battle of the Wilder- ness, was promoted to a captaincy July 15th, 1865, and mustered out the same month. He now resides and is engaged in a successful business at St. Louis, Missouri.
During the War of the Rebellion Mr. Raymond was an official member of the Christian Commission for Michigan. His store was made the depot for stores and contributions, and it was his duty to receive and forward them to such points as the movement of our troops required.
COL. WILLIAM PHELPS.
Earnestness was the distinguishing characteristic of the subject of this sketch.
All enterprises that he attempted he prosecuted with energy and pertinacity, permitting no ordinary obstacle to swerve him from the objective or to dampen his zeal, so long as there remained a hope of their successful accomplishment. Col. Wm. Phelps was born in Scipio Cayuga county, New York, November 19th, 1816. His father was a farmer. Up to the age of 14 he assisted on the farm, then entered a country store in Scipio as clerk. He remained there and at Lavanna until 1835; then catching the western fever, induced by a visit to his uncle the fall previous, he with his brother Ralph came to Detroit, and
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at once engaged in the dry goods trade as one of the firm of Lyon & Phelps. This relation continued but a brief period, and he then taught a district school until the public funds becoming exhausted, when in company with his brother Ralph, he opened a grocery store at No. 35 Woodward avenue. His stock of goods inventoried about $80, beside a soda fountain, which was the first ever introduced in Detroit. In 1840 Ralph withdrew, leaving William to conduct the business, which by careful management developed into the wholesale grocery house of Phelps & Brace, which grew to be one of the largest of the kind in Detroit.
Col. Phelps was an active Republican, and during the late civil war visited the camps of the soldiers, carrying with him supplies, look- ing after the sick and wounded. In the spring of 1862, President Lincoln appointed him Allotment Commissioner, which took him to the front, where he rendered good service to the soldiers of the State and their families. In 1863 he was appointed paymaster, with the rank of major, in which capacity he served during the remainder of the war; when, at his own request, he was mustered out of the service with the rank of lieutenant-colonel.
Col. Phelps in his religious convictions was a Methodist and a member of the Central M. E. church. As in all matters with which he was connected, he was as active in promoting the influence of his church and aiding with his purse and time its establishment and growth.
As a citizen he was prominent in furthering all measures and means tending to secure for his adopted city public schools for the masses, homes for the unfortunate and sanitary improvements for the benefit of all. He stood high with the Masonic fraternity, was a working mem- ber of a number of benevolent associations and largely interested in several important industrial enterprises of the city.
Col. Wm. Phelps died at his residence on Washington avenue, July 24th, 1879. He leaves a wife, who still survives him, and four children.
He was an early member of this Society and contributed a very interesting paper, entitled "Early Recollections of Detroit," to its literature.
ALEXANDER H. ADAMS.
Alexander H. Adams was born at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1813. Came to Detroit in 1836.
Mr. Adams was connected with the Cincinnati branch of the United States Bank prior to his coming to Detroit. On his arrival here he was appointed a member of the Board of Commissioners of Internal
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Improvements, which he held for five years, and in 1845 was appointed cashier of the Michigan State Bank. At the expiration of its charter he became connected with the Detroit Savings Fund Institute, which in 1871 was reorganized under the name of the Detroit Savings Bank. Mr. Adams was made cashier, and was its president at the time of his death.
He was much esteemed and gained the confidence and respect of the business men as well as the citizens generally.
He died on the Ist day of December, 1883, at Detroit.
JUDGE A. G. BOYNTON.
Every man is said to possess certain characteristics which individu- alize him. This is a wise provision of our Creator, and He has extended it to inanimate as well as animated nature, thus relieving the world from monotony.
Dryden says: "True wit consists in the resemblance of ideas. * * But every resemblance of ideas is not what we call wit,
because likenesses are obvious, they create no surprise, but are mere facts. Thus when a poet tells us the bosom of his mistress is as white as snow, there is no wit in the comparison-but when he adds, it is as cold, too, it then grows into wit.
Those well acquainted with the subject of this sketch will agree that he possesses a happy faculty of distinguishing between true wit and tame facts, or comparisons.
Albert G. Boynton was born March 31st, 1837, in Bangor, Maine. His father, Gorham L. Boynton, was also born in Bangor, and on the paternal side was of English antecedents. The mother of Mr. Boynton was a lineal descendant of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins. Her maiden name was Basford, and she was born at Dixmont, Maine, in 1815. Gorham L. Boynton was married to her at Dixmont, Maine in 1835. He died at Bangor, Maine, in 1888, leaving a widow and four children, three sons and one daughter, the subject of this paper being the second son.
On the advent of Albert G. Boynton into this world, his great- great grandfather on the maternal side was living at the age of 93 years. His great grandmother on his father's side at the age of 85 years was also living, so that we may infer there are yet left to him a number of years of usefulness.
Mr. Boynton's early life began as to his education in the primary schools of Bangor, passing thence to the high school, then taught by David Worcester, brother of the lexicographer, who prepared him for
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Bowdoin College, but in 1854 after passing through the requisite ordeal of examination for the sophomore class, ill-health compelled him to abandon study, and he engaged in the manufacturing business in Montreal, utilizing his leisure hours in the study of law. In 1857, he came to Detroit and entered the law office of E. N. and O. B. Wilcox. At the end of two years he was admitted to the bar (1859), after pass- ing examination before a committee appointed by the Supreme Court of Michigan, then in session in old Oddfellow's building at Detroit.
In 1861 he formed a partnership with E. N. Wilcox, which contin- ued until 1866, and on the return of Gen. O. B. Wilcox from the war, became associated with him in the practice of law. Meantime, owing to the illness of the City Attorney (T. H. Hartwell) he was appointed to the position, and after discharging the duties for a year, was in 1869, without opposition, elected Police Justice, to succeed Julius Stoll, enter- ing upon the duties of the office July 4th, 1870. He served the city in this capacity for two years to the satisfaction of the convicted and unconvicted citizens of Detroit, when its duties becoming distasteful, he purchased Col. Norvell's interests in, and became the political editor of the Detroit Free Press, which position he occupies to-day. In 1870-71, he was president of the Detroit Young Men's Society.
As a man and citizen the Judge holds the respect and confidence of all, irrespective of church or party affiliations. His wit and wisdom is of the character defined by Dryden. He is an earnest promoter of all means, methods and measures tending to elevate humanity, and the material growth and prosperity of his adopted State and city. He is kind, courteous, but independent. In politics he is a Democrat, but while sharp and shrewd, his partisanship is not offensive. He is an active member of the Unitarian church, but does not obtrude his religious views upon others, except to defend them when attacked.
In 1862 he determined that man was not made to live alone, and accordingly was united to Miss Frances G. Patten in the spring of that year. She was a descendent on the maternal side, from an old loyalist family (the Stymests) who emigrated from New York on the evacua- tion of the British, taking up a residence in the Province of New Bruns- wick. Her father was a native of Maine, and removed from thence to Michigan in 1848, in which State he died in 1883. Mrs. Boynton was born at Kouchiboguac in New Brunswick.
Four children, three daughters and one son, were born to them, the oldest of whom, like her father before her, was at birth the fifth in living generations.
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SAMUEL ZUG.
The frugal and industrious are commonly friendly to the government they live under .- Tillotson.
None who have known the subject of this sketch will fail to recog- nize the fact that his life and acts have practically demonstrated the sentiment of the above quotation.
Samuel Zug was born opposite Harrisburg, on the Susquehanna river, in Cumberland county, Pa., March 15th, 1816. His ancestors were from the Palatinate of the Rhine, and emigrated from thence to America in 1727, under the patronage of Queen Anne and William Penn, first locating in Philadelphia, where they remained a brief time, when they removed to Lancaster, which they made their home for many years.
When Samuel Zug was two years of age his parents settled in Carlisle, Pa., where Samuel was educated and remained until 1836, when he determined to seek his fortune in the west, and landed at Detroit on the 15th of October of that year. He first engaged as book- keeper for Peter E. Demill, and subsequently with Messrs. Gardner & Mather, crockery dealers, until January, 1843, when he formed a partnership with the late Marcus Stevens, under the firm name of Stevens & Zug, furniture dealers. The partnership continued until 1859, when Mr. Zug retired from mercantile life. In 1861 he was appointed Deputy Collector of Customs, performing the duties of cashier, and in 1873 was appointed, by Governor Bagley, one of the auditors of Wayne county. In all religious, moral and educational enterprises he was active and earnest in their establishment. In 1848 he was one of the original organizers of the Second Presbyterian church and one of the first ordained elders of the society now known as the Fort Street Presbyterian.
In politics Mr. Zug was one of the first members of the Abolition party of Michigan, and was a contributor to the Signal of Liberty, a paper published by Guy Beckley, at Ann Arbor, in the interest of the Abolition party. Afterwards he was chairman of the Free Soil State Central Committee and supported James G. Birney for president in 1844, and when the Republican party was formed in 1854, he became a member of its State Central Committee and has ever since been an ardent supporter of the Republican party and its principles. In his religious, public and business life, he was governed by those principles taught by the parable of the laborer in the vineyard: "Friend, I do thee no wrong; didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Is thine eye evil because I am good ?"
In 1843 Mr. Zug married Miss Anne Stead, daughter of Benjamin
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Stead, who was associated with Stephen Mack, William Woodbridge, Solomon Sibley and others in what was known as the Pontiac Land Company, and who was one of the petitioners for the charter of the Michigan University, and was a resident of Detroit in 1818.
Samuel Zug and Anne Stead Zug have one son, Robert M., born in 1851, and one daughter, Mrs. W. H. Nichols, of Indianapolis, Ind., born in 1849, who are still living.
Since the foregoing was written, Mr. Samuel Zug departed this life December 26th, 1889.
MARCUS STEVENS.
The subject of this sketch, one of the oldest and most esteemed citizens, came to Detroit in 1836, and departed this life June 19th, 1880.
Marcus Stevens was born in Steuben county, New York, Feb- ruary 20th, 1814. After acquiring a fair English education he learned the cabinet makers' trade at Bath, N. Y. At the age of twenty-two he came to Michigan, his first employer being the late James W. Tillman. He subsequently established a business for himself and conducted it in such a manner that his house became the most prominent in the State. He associated with him Mr. Samuel Zug. This partnership continued until 1859, when Mr. Zug retired. The year following Mr. Stevens removed to the Coyle block, where he continued, taking active charge until 1878, when, his health failing, he turned over his business to Messrs. C. A. Brockway and F. G. Chidsey, who had control at his death.
Mr. Stevens was the oldest surviving member of the Brady Guards at his death, was a member of the Audubon Club and presi- dent of the North Channel Fishing and Shooting Club.
Politically, Mr. Stevens was a strong Republican, but never sought or held a public office. At his death he was a trustee of Grace Epis- copal church.
None acquainted with Mr. Stevens but will remember his genial manner-his countenance bearing the impress of sterling integrity and high sense of honor. Many mourned his death. He left a wife (his second) and two daughters, Mrs. Kate Robe, wife of Captain C. F. Robe, Twenty-fifth United States Infantry, and Miss Helen E. Stevens.
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A. H. WILKINSON.
Albert Hamilton Wilkinson is by birth a Wolverine, having been born in the township of Novi, Oakland county, in the Territory of Michigan, November 19th, 1834.
His father, James Wilkinson, was born in the State of New York. The maiden name of his mother was Elizabeth Yerkes, born in Seneca county, in the State of New York. They were married near North- ville, Mich. They had seven children; four only are living. His father died February 3, 1872, and his mother in 1863.
Judge Wilkinson, the subject of this sketch, worked on his father's farm during the summer and attended school during the winter. At the age of fifteen he commenced to prepare for college and for a time attended the State Normal School at Ypsilanti. He taught school at Lodi, Centerville and Ann Arbor while pursuing his studies. He entered the University of Michigan in 1855, graduating in the literary course in 1859. July 4th he married Miss Elvira M. Allen, daughter of Henry Allen, deceased, of the town of West Bloomfield, Oakland county, Michigan. During the winter of 1859-60 he attended the law lectures at the University and was admitted to the bar in 1860. He commenced the practice of law at Pontiac, Michigan, but in the fall of 1861 removed to Detroit, opened a law office and soon acquired a good practice.
Mr. Wilkinson was elected Judge of Probate in 1872. At the end of his term he resumed his practice, associating with him Mr. Hoyt Post, and since, under the firm name of Wilkinson & Post, has secured an extensive practice, not only in Michigan but reaching to other States. While the Judge has made law his specialty he has engaged in several industrial enterprises tending to promote the material growth of the city. His wife and himself are members of the First Baptist church and take an active and prominent part in all movements directed to the extension of its influence over its younger members and attend- ants. Like all men possessing his temperament, he is earnest in whatever he undertakes, and having, in early life, received a training which inculcated an abhorrence of evil, he has the reputation of being a Christian gentleman, a conscientious lawyer, a firm friend and an upright and enterprising citizen.
GEN. CHARLES LARNED.
He was a man beloved by rich and poor alike. His death was occasioned by exposure in the interests of humanity, furnishing an instance of self-sacrifice seldom exhibited, either in ancient or modern
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times. He left " a family, a city and a State in mourning." Such was the tribute offered to the memory of the subject of this sketch, by the late Hon. Charles C. Trowbridge. Charles Larned was a native of Pittsfield, Berkshire county, Mass.
Simeon Larned, his father, came to America when a youth, and was high sheriff of Berkshire county when the Colonies declared their independence, and during the war which followed, was colonel of the 9th regiment American Infantry, and aid-de-camp to George Washing- ton.
At the close of the Revolutionary war, he, for a time, retired from the army, but during the war of 1812 resumed command of his former regiment, and participated in the battles of Flatbush and those on the eastern frontier, while the subject of this sketch and his brother George were on the frontier at Fort Wayne, River Raisin and Detroit.
Charles Larned was a graduate of Williams College, in 1806. Studied law in the office of Henry Clay, and while a student was one with Gov. Shelby and Col. Owen to engage in the organization of a regiment in aid of Gen. Harrison, then in command of the western frontier. This was the noted Kentucky regiment that was almost destroyed at the River Raisin massacre, and was subsequently merged into the regular army, and participated in the battle of the Thames.
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