USA > Michigan > Oakland County > History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests Volume I > Part 20
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"It is less than a year (written in 1901) since Judge Baldwin gave up the active practice of his profession. He still, however, visits his office frequently but does not pretend to attend to more than the details of his own private business. In this age of strife and wealth-seeking it is refreshing to record the career of one whose ambition was not solely engrossed with amassing a fortune. Judge Baldwin is, however, able to spend his declining years in comfort at his home on Clark street, Pontiac, where the visitor will find ample evidence of those comforts and refining influences which permit him to apply his leisure in reading and research.
"In his home surrounded by a magnificent library, which it has been his life work to accumulate he may nearly always be found buried in
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his retreat among his books and other treasures. His library is an ex- cellent one, .comprising many volumes, treating on almost every subject which human versatility may suggest. A large portion of his library, however, was a few years ago placed at the disposal of the Orchard Lake Military Academy, of which institution he is still president and has ever been a liberal patron. His home also contains a gallery of fine paintings collected through years of carefully cultivated artistic taste.
"Of Judge Baldwin's personal characteristics it may be said that though he has long since passed the meridian of life, yet he still stands before us a central figure; with a mind still active he keeps in touch with the events of the day, and his intelligent discussion of current topics shows that he still keenly sympathizes with the pulsing life of the community. If asked what is the most prominent element of his nature we would say unhesitatingly, rugged strength, vigor of intellect, unyielding determination. A strong mind in a strong body has demon- strated once more that these are necessary elements to achievement. In judicial conventions, in political and educational gatherings, in legis- lative halls of the state and nation, the voice of Judge Baldwin has many times been listened to throughout his long and arduous public services, and it is in the recorded actions of such educational, political, legislative, or judicial assembles that we must look for the most lasting record of his efforts expended in behalf of the common weal. His life has embraced practically the whole of the nineteenth century, and now in his declining years he witnesses the twentieth century well launched and wishes God speed to his fellows in the path of achievement in all things that go to the betterment of mankind."
JOHN S. GOODRICH
John S. Goodrich was from the state of New York and was ad- mitted to the bar of Oakland county in November, 1840. He was elected a judge of the supreme court after he removed from Oakland to Gene- see county in April, 1851, and died before qualifying as such judge. He was unmarried, rather ungainly in personal appearance, painfully awk- ward in manner, but possessed of the most wonderful powers of memory, and a library in himself. It is said that he read Hume's history of Eng- land through in forty-eight hours, and from that single and rapid pe- rusal could give every important event and its date, recorded therein. He died in 1851 at Goodrichville, in Genesee county, a village to which his family gave its name and where representatives of the family made their home for many years.
LEVI B. TAFT
Judge Levi B. Taft was a native of Bellingham, Norfolk county, Massachusetts, where he was born on August 6, 1821. He came to Michigan in 1834 and read law with Hon. Jacob M. Howard and Messrs. Barstow & Lockwood. He was graduated from Dartmouth college in 1843, and was admitted to the bar in 1845 in the supreme court and also in the United States courts. He practiced his profession sixteen years
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in Chicago, and from that city came to Pontiac, where he continued his practice until 1873, when he was elected judge of the sixth judicial circuit, and presided over the courts of that district until December 31, 1875, when he retired from the bench and resumed his practice in Pon- tiac, which he continued until his death, April 29, 1895.
HESTER L. STEVENS
In 1845 General Hester L. Stevens, an eminent attorney of Roches- ter, New York, located in Pontiac, and began the practice of his pro- fession. He was prosecuting attorney in 1847-48, and with Judge Baldwin formed a partnership in 1849 and 1850. In 1851 he was elected to congress from the district in which he resided and took up his resi- dence in Washington after his congressional term expired, where he practiced extensively before the court of claims. He was an able law- yer and a man of high social position.
JUDGE MICHAEL E. CROFOOT
Judge Michael E. Crofoot, one of the leading members of the Oak- land bar, and whose powers as an attorney reflected great honor upon the profession of the law, was admitted to practice in Rochester, New York, previous to 1846, and in the Oakland county courts in February, 1848. His first great case was the trial of the Bismuth murder case, so called, wherein he gained great celebrity in the defense of the ac- cused, and procured the acquittal of his client. He pursued his legal studies with General H. L. Stevens. Judge Crofoot was judge of pro- bate for eight years, and for several years before he relinquished active practice and maintained an office in Detroit, whither he went daily when not engaged in the courts elsewhere, conducting an extensive practice both in Oakland and in that city. Judge Crofoot's power was greatest in getting and marshaling his proofs and in the examination of witnesses, but he was also eloquent and effective with a jury. He was always ready for his arguments and uniformly effective in his manner of pre- senting them, his success, as a probate judge and at the bar having been marked and his high standing as a citizen universally conceded. Judge Crofoot died May II, 1884. He was always a public spirited and useful citizen. He was a member of the Pontiac school board for many years and one of the principal school buildings of that city now bears his name. Judge Crofoot left two sons who have followed his profession and are prominent and successful lawyers. One, Louis, is located at Aberdeen, South Dakota, and the other, Lodovic, is at Omaha, Nebraska.
HENRY M. LOOK
Henry M. Look, a prominent attorney of the county and noted throughout the state for his eloquence, was a native of Michigan and of what was once Oakland county, but is now Lapeer county, his birth occurring on October 27, 1837, in Hadley. He began the study of the law in the office of his brother in Kentucky, and completed his studies
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with Messrs. Baldwin & Draper, and also attended a course of lectures in the law department of the University of Michigan, in 1859. He was admitted to practice in the United States courts in July, 1867. Previous to that event, however, he followed the practice of his profession and that of teaching in the south for a time. He was a member of the legislature of Michigan in 1865-66, prosecuting attorney for Oakland county in 1871-72, city attorney for Pontiac for several years and a member of the board of education of the city from 1864-67, inclusive. Mr. Look had a wide reputation also as a writer. He was a partner of Judge Baldwin for a time.
MARK S. BREWER
Hon. Mark S. Brewer of Pontiac, was admitted to the bar of Oak- land county on March 10, 1864. He was born in the township of Addi- son, that county, on the 22d day of October, 1837, and until he was twenty years of age remained at home, assisting in the labors of the farm, and attending the district school during the winter season at a log schoolhouse, situated on his father's farm. The country was new, his parents were not liberally endowed with this world's goods, and it was with difficulty that the lad got suitable clothing in which to attend school. His mother often took her own shoes from her feet and gave them to her boy to wear to school, when the weather became too severe for him to go without shoes. In 1857 his health became somewhat im- paired from overwork and he was compelled to leave the farm and seek other employment. In the winter of 1858 he commenced teaching in a district school and followed that vocation for the three succeeding winters, during the remainder of the seasons of 1859 and 1860 attend- ing the school at Romeo and Oxford Academy. In the spring of 1861 he entered the law office of Hon. W. L. Weber, of East Saginaw, where he pursued the study of the law until the fall of that year. By that time the slender means he had saved from the preceding winter became exhausted and he again taught school the succeeding winter. In the spring of 1862 he resumed his studies in the office of Governor Wisner in Pontiac, to which place he came on foot with a scanty wardrobe, and but $60 in money, the latter representing his savings from his winter's salary. His stock in trade was "pluck." He pursued his legal studies during the spring, summer and fall of 1862, taught school again in the following winter, and in the spring of 1863 recommenced his legal studies, this time with Hon. M. E. Crofoot, Governor Wisner having in the meantime given his life to his country. Upon his admission to the bar he formed a partnership with Judge Crofoot which was continued until January 1, 1876, when it was mutually dissolved and Mr. Brewer continued in practice alone. He was circuit court commissioner for Oakland county from 1867 to 1871, two full terms; city attorney for Pontiac from 1866-67, inclusive. In 1872 he was elected state senator from Oakland county and served as such during the years of 1873 and 1874. In 1876 he was nominated by the Republican party of the sixth congressional district of Michigan as their candidate for representative in congress, and was elected to that and the succeeding congress (45th
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and 46th, from 1877 to 1880, inclusive), representing the same district also in the 50th and 5Ist congress from 1887 to 1890. He has also filled the office of United States consul at Berlin, Germany. Mr. Brewer had always been an ardent politician, acting with the Republi- can party from the time he attained his majority, and after the campaign of 1864 had been prominent in the canvass of each succeeding election. He was a member of the Republican state central committee and chair- man of the committee for Oakland county from 1870 until - Mr. Brewer was a popular and effective stump speaker, as well as when before a jury, and was highly esteemed, not only by his particular political friends, but by his acquaintances of opposite faith generally,, all of whom bore willing testimony to his worth as a citizen and a man. His death occurred March 18, 1901.
LIVING MEMBERS OF THE BAR
At the present writing (August, 1912), there are fifty living members of the Oakland county bar in good standing, the oldest of whom (in point of admission to practice) being ex-Judge Thomas L. Patterson, of Holly.
The list follows: Thomas L. Patterson, Holly, 1863; Joseph E. Sawyer, Pontiac, 1869; George W. Smith, Pontiac, 1874; Robert J. Lounsbury, Pontiac, 1875; Aaron Perry, Pontiac, 1876; Arthur R. Tripp, Pontiac, 1876; Samuel W. Smith, Pontiac, 1878; Daniel L. Davis, Pon- tiac, 1879; Homer H. Colvin, Pontiac, 1879; Elmer R. Webster, Pon- tiac, 1880; George O. Kinsman, Oxford, 1882; Elmer E. Blakeslee, Pontiac, 1883; Peter B. Bromley, Pontiac, 1884; James H. Lynch, Pon- tiac, 1886; John H. Patterson, Pontiac, 1887; Frank L. Covert, Pontiac, 1890; Fred Wieland, Orion, 1890; John B. Mathews, Pontiac, 1890; Daniel R. Currey, Rochester, 1890; George Hogle, Pontiac, 1892; Frank E. Jenkins, Oxford, 1894; Kleber P. Rockwell, Pontiac, 1895; Andrew L. Moore, Pontiac, 1895; Henry M. Zimmerman, Pontiac, 1895; John A. Neal, Orion, 1895; Samuel J. Patterson, Pontiac, 1898; George W. Caswell, Birmingham, 1898; Elmer E. Hymers, Pontiac, 1899; Judson A. Fredenburgh, Pontiac, 1899; J. Arthur Tillson, Pontiac, 1899; John E. Brondige, Pontiac, 1900; William F. North, Pontiac, 1900; Ross Stockwell, Pontiac, 1901; Carl H. Pelton, Pontiac, 1902; Clinton Mc- Gee, Pontiac, 1903; D. F. Noble, Milford, - -; Sylvester Pheney, Holly, 1903; Charles Matthews, Pontiac, 1903; Earl A. Lovejoy, Mil- ford, 1905; Clement E. Miner, Holly, 1905; Frank L. Doty, Pontiac, 1907; Charles P. Webster, Pontiac, 1908; Clare J. LeRoy, Royal Oak, -; Harry H. Snowdon, Pontiac, 1909; George A. Dondero, Royal Oak, 1910; E. B. Howarth, Jr., Rochester, 1910; Glenn C. Gillespie, Pontiac, 1910; C. C. Tillson, Pontiac, 1910; Relph F. Keeling, Pontiac, 1910.
THOMAS L. PATTERSON
Thomas L. Patterson, a prominent citizen of Oakland county, an esteemed resident of Holly since he was ten years of age, and a worthy representative of an old pioneer family, was born at Clarkston, Monroe
.
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county, New York, in 1836. He is a son of James and Eliza (Patten) Patterson, both of whom were born in the Peach Bottom valley of the Susquehanna river, York county, of Revolutionary parentage, and the father of this sketch was a veteran of the War of 1812. He moved from York county, Pennsylvania, to Canandaigua, New York, early in life, later locating in Monroe county, New York. In 1839 he became one of the great number of New Yorkers who moved to Michigan, and he made a home in Holly township, Oakland county, to which he brought his family in 1845. Nine children were born to them, five sons and four daughters, all of whom are now deceased except the subject of this sketch.
Judge Patterson was about ten years old when he came with his father and other members of the family to Holly, and he immediately began attendance at the district school of the town. He recalls today his first teacher there,-one David A. Eliot, the school being known as the Patterson district school. He attended Clarkson Academy and the Collegiate Institute at Bridgeport, New York, a full term, the school being now in the state normal class. Soon after his graduation he returned from New York to Michigan, and then continued the study of law. In 1863 he was admitted to the bar at Pontiac, and has the dis- tinction of being the oldest member of the Oakland county bar. In addition to his law practice, Judge Patterson served for seventeen years as supervisor from Holly township, and for nine years was chairman of the board of supervisors. In 1884 he was elected judge of the pro- bate court, which position he filled with honor and credit for a period of sixteen years. In 1866 the law firm of Patterson & Patterson came into life, and was composed of Judge Patterson and his nephew, James K. Patterson, the latter serving as prosecuting attorney of Oakland county from 1874 to 1879. The name of the firm is still retained, how- ever, and the offices of the firm are maintained at Pontiac, John H. Patterson, his son, and Samuel J. Patterson, his grand-nephew, are now the active members of the firm. It was during Judge Patterson's term as supervisor of Holly township that so large a contingent was sent to swell the Union ranks, that township as such having the record for furnishing the largest number of any township in the county.
In 1856 Judge Patterson married Eunice A. Hadley, a member of one of the oldest families in the county. She was born in Rose town- ship, Oakland county, in 1840, and died at Holly on August 5, 1902. She was the daughter of John and Eunice Hadley. Four children were born of this union, three sons and a daughter: John H., Stuard D., and William F., who resides on the home farm adjacent to Holly village. Marion E. died in October, 1896, in her twentieth year.
In 1904, on June 30th, Mr. Patterson again united in marriage to Miss Alice I. Allen, daughter of Ira and Emily Eliot Allen of Holly, both her father and mother being among the very first actual settlers in Holly township. Mrs. Patterson's father was a son of Jonathan T. Allen, long a resident of Holly, having located several sub-divisions of land on section 35 in Holly in 1835. On one sub-division of eighty acres, the father of Mrs. Patterson lived continuously since 1835, until
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the decease of Mr. Allen, and in which home Mrs. Patterson was born and reared.
In his fraternal relations, Judge Patterson is a Mason of high de- gree, being a member of the Commandery, Knights Templar. His church relations are represented by his attendance at the Methodist Episcopal church. He is one of the most loyal and public-spirited citi- zens of Holly, and has ever been identified with affairs of local improve- ment, and throughout his career his activities have been of an order that have wielded a strong influence for good in the community.
HON. JOSEPH EDWARD SAWYER
Hon. Joseph Edward Sawyer, a member of the legal profession, is the most prominent real-estate dealer of Oakland county and is keenly alive to the value of enterprises calculated to further the development of the city of Pontiac. He was born in Piermont, Grafton county, New Hampshire, January 1, 1847, and is the seventh child and only son of Hon. Joseph and Mary (Dole) Sawyer. He is a lineal descendant of Thomas Sawyer, a native Englishman, born there in about 1816, who died at Lancaster, Massachusetts. His ancestors for generations past have lived to attain advanced ages, notable among them being Rev. John Sawyer, of Bangor, Maine, who reached the age of one hundred and three years and five days; at the time of his death, on October 14, 1858, he was reputed to be the oldest minister in the United States.
The father of the subject, who was Hon. Joseph Sawyer, was born in Grafton county, New Hampshire, and for years was identified with the agricultural operations of that district. He was a man of consider- able prominence, and served a number of terms as the representative of his district in the state legislature, as well as filling other public offices with honor and ability. He was in the seventy-third year of his life when he passed away on July 4, 1858. His wife was Mary (Dole) Plastridge, a daughter of Captain Moses Dole, who soon after his mar- riage to Lucy Poor, of Charlestown, New Hampshire, moved to Canaan, New Hampshire, locating there in 1802. There he bought the tavern and farm of one Dudley Gilman, and hung out a sign bearing the painted inscription "Mr. Dole's Inn, 1802," which sign swung there for more than a quarter century. He was a member of the "New Hampshire Rangers" during the Revolutionary war, and during his lifetime was elected to various offices of trust, the duties of all of which he dis- charged with characteristic fidelity. He was a courteous gentleman and Mrs. Dole was distinguished by her innate refinement and intelligence. She died in October, 1826, and Captain Dole lived for two years there- after, his death occurring in 1828. He was buried with Masonic honors by Mount Moriah lodge. They had two children,-Joseph, who died in 1817, at the age of sixteen years, and Mary, born October 28, 1803. Mary Dole was married to Dr. Charles Plastridge, who died October 16, 1824, at the age of twenty-nine years. In 1829 she married Hon. Joseph Sawyer. She was a member of the Congregational church from 1816 until her death, and was a popular and much beloved woman, ever possessing a host of friends and warm admirers. She died on
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February 1, 1885, in her eighty-second year, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. C. F. Kimball, at Pontiac, Michigan. All her children were present at her bedside when she passed away, namely: Mrs. C. F. Kimball, Mrs. John Calloway, Mrs. Evan Hughes, Miss Lizzie Sawyer, Mrs. James Newby and Joseph E. Sawyer.
In the public schools of Piermont and the academy at Bradford, Vermont, Joseph E. Sawyer received his early education. When he was sixteen years of age he went to Michigan City, Indiana, and then to Cambridge City. He studied in private schools and in the academy at Dublin, Indiana, then entering the literary department of the Uni- versity of Michigan. He was a member of the class of 1869, but left the university before graduation. He went from his studies to Bosco- bel, Wisconsin, where he entered the law offices of Hon. George Hazel- ton. In 1867 he formed a co-partnership with Benjamin Shearer under the firm name of Shearer and Sawyer, for the practice of law, being then twenty years of age. They continued in practice for a year, when Mr. Sawyer removed to Pontiac and entered the law office of Hon. M. E. Crofoot. He was admitted to the Oakland county bar on September 29, 1869, and thereafter continued in active practice. He was elected circuit court commissioner for Oakland county in 1872 and in 1875 was appointed United States commissioner for the eastern district of Michigan. In 1878 he became associated with J. D. and F. D. Standish of Detroit, under the name of Sawyer, Standish & Company, with office in Detroit, proprietors of the Tappan, McKilop & Company Commercial Agency, Mr. Sawyer being manager of the legal department. In 1891 he with others united in organizing the Pontiac Land & Improvement Company of which he was secretary and general manager, Hon. J. D. Norton being president. This corporation is entitled to much credit for the prosperity which the city of Pontiac has enjoyed since its or- ganization. Mr. Sawyer lent himself to the work with such energy that he was compelled to practically abandon his other interests, and since the organization of the Pontiac Land & Improvement Company, he has platted and sold ten additions to the city, the latest being the Ferry addition, to handle which he organized the Pontiac Investment & Promotive Company, of which he was secretary and manager. Mr. Sawyer was appointed a member of the board of trustees of the Eastern Michigan Asylum by Governor Alger in 1885, to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Hon. W. M. McConnell, was reappointed by Governor Luce and again by Governor Rich, serving fourteen years consecutively, during which time he was present at every meeting of the joint board of trustees of Michigan, every monthly and special meeting of his own board save one, every meeting of the executive committee and all meet- ings of other committees of which he was a member. He is a Republi- can in politics and was a delegate to the national Republican conven- tion in 1884, which nominated James G. Blaine, and has been chairman of the Republican county committee. He is a man of great energy and ambition, making a success of every venture with which he is connected.
On October 17, 1877, Mr. Sawyer was united in marriage with Miss Lizzie V. Satterlee, born in Bloomfield township, Oakland county, on July 31, 1856, a daughter of George H. and Jane (Flower) Satterlee.
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She was three years of age when she came with her parents to Central Mine, Keweenaw county, Michigan, in which place she remained until the death of her father in 1875, when, with her mother and sisters she came to Pontiac. Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer have five children, as follows : Lizzie Belle, born August 8, 1878, the wife of A. R. Stockwell of Pon- tiac; Mary Lucile, born April 12, 1880; Kate Eleanor, born November 18, 1884; Joseph Satterlee, July 25, 1890 and Thomas Dole, January 27, 190I.
The Sawyer family is one which has long been prominent in Masonry. Col. Edward Sawyer, uncle of the subject, joined the fraternity at the age of twenty-one years and was the second oldest Mason in the United States when he died on February 2, 1885, aged ninety-seven years. Joseph E. Sawyer was initiated May 27, 1870, in Pontiac lodge No. 21, A. F. & A. M., of which he afterwards was master. He was exalted in Oakland Chapter, R. A. M., January 29, 1875, of which he became high priest. On June 28, 1875, he became a member of Pontiac council No. 3, R. & S. M., of which he was elected thrice illustrious master ; on March 7, 1876, was knighted in Pontiac Commandery No. 2, Knights Templar; on March 6, 1877, he was elected prelate; in 1880 he was elected captain-general and eminent commander in 1885. He is also past chancellor of Pontiac lodge No. 19, Knights of Pythias, and has served as district deputy grand chancellor and chairman of the committee on foreign correspondence. The foreign correspondence reports of Michigan for 1890 and 1891, written by Mr. Sawyer, received much favorable notice from the reviewers of other grand domains, of which the following from the able pen of Hon. M. L. Stevens, who had writ- ten the report for Maine for many years and was universally acknowl- edged to be the ablest writer of such reviews in the United States, is a fair sample. In reviewing the Journal of Michigan for 1891, he says : "The Correspondence Report (100 pp.) is without exception the very best, from any jurisdiction, which we have ever read. Brother Sawyer has reached, almost at a bound, a degree of excellence as a reporter which we have striven vainly for almost a score of years to attain. As furnishing an accurate and thoroughly interesting bird's-eye-view of what is going on throughout the order, he has no peer. The nearest approach to his excellence was made by the lamented Dayton of Con- necticut, in 1884."
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