USA > Michigan > Oakland County > History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests Volume I > Part 50
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velop the natural beauty of the farm by conserving and adding to the trees and shrubs growing upon it at the time of purchase. Private road- ways have been laid and graded and trees planted along their borders and about the buildings. The farm is bisected from west to east by a roadway, which two years ago was carefully regraded by the state.
Near the center of the farm are located the two dwelling houses and the barns that are used especially for farm purposes. The biological buildings proper have been located, in order to avoid dust and arrange for the most sanitary conditions possible, about eighty rods from the highway on a commanding hilltop which overlooks the entire premises. The beautiful valley of the Clinton river and Stony creek is spread out like a map immediately in front of the buildings and offers an extremely attractive combination of stream, hillside and woodland.
The buildings were all designed especially for the purposes for which they were to be utilized, the simplest and most sanitary construction available being employed. There are two large stables designed espe- cially for horses, a commodious vaccine propagating building, which is so located that the two floors may be entered from the ground at dif- ferent levels. This building is most complete in its equipment and con- tains numerous specially constructed aseptic rooms for the handling of biological products, sterilizing room for preparing glassware, boiler room, dynamo, pump and various other types of machinery needed for work of this kind. All the biological buildings are supplied with run- ning water from an elevated tank which is kept filled by a power pump taking the water from a well about three hundred feet deep.
There are two hundred horses kept on the place, numerous goats, sheep and other animals. In order that the animals may receive the best possible attention, the resident superintendent is an experienced veterin- arian as well as a biologist. The farm, for its management, requires a force of about twenty men. All operations pertaining to the production of the sera and vaccines are carried out with the most careful atten- tion to sanitary requirements in keeping with the main biological labor- atory located in Detroit. It is the aim to produce therapeutic agents of the highest possible quality. The products are but partially elaborated at Parkdale and shipped in bulk to Detroit for further attention. It is believed that as time passes greatly increased facilities will be needed to keep pace with the great developments that are being made in medical and veterinary biological work.
FERRY SEED FARM
In December, 1902, the Ferry Seed Company which had formerly conducted a farm near Pontiac purchased a half section of land (south half of 36), a few miles southeast of Rochester for $50,000. This has been developed into one of the greatest seed farms in the country, and is widely known as "Oakview."
CHAPTER XXIX OXFORD TOWNSHIP
CIVILLY ORGANIZED-FIRST SETTLERS OF THE TOWNSHIP-FIRST ROADS AND RAILROAD-THOMAS-LAKES-OXFORD VILLAGE INCORPORATED -SCHOOLS-OXFORD CHURCHES-NEWSPAPERS AND SOCIETIES-OX- FORD INDUSTRIES-MICHIGAN PRESSED BRICK COMPANY-C. L. RANDALL & COMPANY.
Oxford is among the northern tier of townships and was cut off from Oakland township in 1837. It was named before it was born; which is a somewhat remarkable circumstance. In the fall of 1836 the citizens of the territory who desired separate organization petitioned the legis- lative council to that effect, and a committee consisting of Samuel Ax- ford, Otis C. Thompson and John Rossman, was appointed to select a name for the proposed town. Mr. Thompson insisted that nothing could be more appropriate than Oxford, since nearly all the settlers had ox- teams and probably would hold on to them for some years to come. His suggestion prevailed, although one of his associates, a rabid Yankee and anti-Britisher, fought it quite savagely on the ground that the coming generations, at least, would not understand the significance, but surmise that the township was named after old Oxford, England.
OXFORD CIVILLY ORGANIZED
But "Oxford" the township was named, and in April, 1837, a civil organization was effected by the election of the following at the house of Fite Rossman, on section 27, at the site of the present village: Super- visor, Peter D. Makely ; clerk, Daniel Haines; assessors, Samuel Axford, Daniel L. Ingals and Harlan Hollister; justices of the peace, Daniel F. Ingals, Justin Bixby, Rufus K. Moore, and Levi Smith; commissioners of highways, Addison Alcutt, Rufus K. Moore, and Hezekiah B. Killam; school inspectors, Daniel F. Ingals, Robert Mckay, and Samuel Axford; collector, Morgan Axford; directors of the poor, John Rossman and William Coates ; constables, Adam Rossman and Horace Hovey ; pound- master, Joseph Furguson.
FIRST SETTLERS OF TOWNSHIP
At the time Oxford township thus assumed its body corporate, it was only six years of age as a settled section of the county; for, although
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
Elbridge G. Deming, John and Fite Rossman, John Shippy, John Will- man and Samuel Axford, had made entries for land in 1823 and 1824, a New Yorker, named Avery Brown, was the first to come into the township to live. He was a wolf trapper and a shingle maker and built a shanty in the cedar swamps of section 4, in the northern part of the township, where he plied both the trades of which he seems to have been master. John Brown, another wanderer from the Empire state, resided on section 8, for a short time; but as neither of these men had families they did not "count" in those days.
In the spring of 1832 Elbridge G. Deming brought his family and his household effects with him, building a house and breaking land on section 9, where his descendants hold property. For many years his place was the best known in the township, and in 1834 was selected for the first postoffice. Two years before Mr. Deming had thrown open a portion of his house into a tavern, and John Rossman, who had settled on section 4 in 1832, also fitted up his log house to the same end. Soon after, Fite Rossman, a brother, who also came from New York a few months later, and took a homestead on section 27 (now in the southern part of Oxford village), opened the third tavern in the township. As we have seen, it was here that the first township meeting was held.
In 1833 Samuel Axford and his brother, Morgan, Canadians who had been ten years in Macomb county, united their fortunes and energies with Mr. Deming and the Rossmans in settling the new town. The Ax- ford properties were near Deming's on section 9. Alanson Decker ap- peared a few days after the Axfords, hailing from New Jersey, and planted his homestead on section 8. Jere Hunt became a neighbor in June, and in October Harry Shelters came from New York and settled near Fite Rossman. In 1834 David Applegate, of that state, settled on section 20; the Van Wagoner family located north and west of him, and Stephen and John Shippy established homes on section 9, further to the north. In 1834 Adam Rossman, of Genesee county, New York, located on section 22, just opposite the place of his uncle Fite, securing a government patent of one hundred and sixty acres embracing the site of the present village. After improving his land to some extent, he sold it to George Louks in 1844. This same busy year of 1834 witnessed the coming of the Campbells to the extreme northwestern part of the township, and in 1835 Otis C. Thompson and John McKay became neighbors-as neighbors were "computed" in those days. Further south, northeast of the village, located Hezekiah Killam and Peter D. Makely, New Yorkers, and Hiram and James Travis, Pennsylvanians, settled in the western part of the township in 1836. The year of the township organization, 1837, was marked by the arrival of Benjamin Reed and William Coates, natives of New Jersey, to section 5, near the present station of Thomas, and Joseph Tyndall and William Tann to section 23, just northeast of the village of Oxford.
About 1835 Samuel Wilson, a New Yorker, located on section 27, within the present village limits, and built the first frame house in the township; as to frame barns, Alanson Decker and Elbridge Deming were rivals as to priority, since each had a "raising" the same day in 1834. On account of the sparse settlement, hands had to be obtained Vol. 1-27
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
from Lapeer county; one of the barns was raised in the forenoon and the other in the afternoon, but local history fails to record which went up first.
FIRST ROADS AND RAILROAD
Means of travel and communication are always provided in a new country before it can expect any decided influx of population. The Territorial road, from Rochester to Lapeer, was the first convenience of this nature furnished the pioneers of Oxford township, and was located through their section of the county in 1832. Its route was from a point on the southern line of section 35, in a northwesterly direction to the northern line of section 16, thence slightly to the northeast and out of the township near the east line of section 4. It was a very im- portant highway, and still maintains that position.
Another of the roads located at an early day was the one running west from the Lapeer road, on the line between sections 4 and 9, and that east of the Lapeer thoroughfare, between sections 22 and 27. William M. Axford was the surveyor of these roads.
THOMAS
In 1872 the Detroit & Bay City Railroad was built along the general line of the Territorial road to the center of section 9, whence it was con- tinued in the same direction to a point near the northern boundary of section 4, then passing into Lapeer county. This is now a section of the Michigan Central. Soon after the building of the Detroit & Bay City road there was a demand for a station and a village in the northern portion of section 4, and John Thomas platted the eighteen acres on the west half of the northwest quarter of that section in December, 1873, which has since borne his name. The first building erected at that point was a grain elevator in 1874; it was also used as a depot. In the fall of that year Francis brothers built a grain house and early in the next year Mr. Thomas completed a storehouse in the eastern part of the village. The depot was built in 1875, a steam grist mill in 1876, and, at various periods since, Thomas has threatened to become quite an import- ant shipping point. One of the most exciting local events occurred on July 3, 1902, when by a cloud burst and consequent railroad wreck two persons were killed at Thomas.
This is really the only settlement in the township outside of Oxford village, unless we except Oakwood postoffice, although most of the houses clustering around it are located in the adjoining township of Brandon.
LAKES
There are a number of pretty lakes in the central and southern town- ships of the county, such as Stony, Squaw, Davis and Powell. Sections 3 and 10 were originally covered with forests of white cedar, whose products furnished thousands of rails. The largest of the lakes is Stony, located on section 16 and covering about 100 acres. It is about two miles northwest of the village of Oxford and the township has pur- chased a tract of land on its shores and improved it as a park.
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
OXFORD VILLAGE INCORPORATED
The village of Oxford was not incorporated until January 13, 1876. The charter which conferred corporate powers upon it gave it control over one square mile of territory. Its original incorporation was by the board of supervisors ; its reincorporation, by act of the legislature, was in 1891.
SCHOOLS
The northern and northwestern parts of the township were supplied with schools before the southern-that is, the first two attempts at train- ing the young ideas were made in that section. In 1835 a little log house for that purpose was built on section 9 and in the summer of the fol-
ON THE SHORES OF STONY LAKE
lowing year Miss Maria Sherman taught a class, a portion of which was composed of pupils from Lapeer county. The building was burned down in 1839 and replaced by a frame school house in 1840- the first in the township.
In 1837 section 7 saw the rearing of a log house devoted to educa- tional purposes. It was also destroyed by fire in 1842 and a "frame" built near its site in 1843. Miss Betsey Howard was the pioneer teacher in the northwestern part of Oxford township.
The first schoolhouse in the southern part was put up in 1837 on section 22, in the northern part of the village. The 1842 frame build- ing which took its place was used until 1860, when the school district obtained the Oxford Institute, which had been established three years before by Rev. William H. Fuller and others.
Soon afterward the district school was graded, and it has since gone
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
right ahead. The Oxford Union school is now one of the best organized in the county and is under the superintendency of A. D. Dewill. The building also houses a good township library, of which Nina Sutherland is librarian.
Besides its fully-organized Union school, Oxford has a well-planned and well-built plant for supplying the village with water and electric light. The former is based on the direct pumping system and the sup- ply is drawn from four wells. A small volunteer fire department affords adequate fire protection.
OXFORD CHURCHES
Baptists, Methodists, Congregationalists, Catholics, Christians (Church of Christ), Christian Scientists and Seventh-Day Adventists are all rep-
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OXFORD UNION SCHOOL
resented by organizations at Oxford. The Methodists were first in the field ; that is, the Farmington circuit, which formerly embraced Oxford and was cultivated by Revs. J. F. Davidson and John Kensar.
The Church of Christ was not organized at Oxford until 1862, although the preachers of that faith were among the first in the town- ship. The Congregationalists also had an early organization, and built a church about 1876. The latter now .number about fifty, although at last accounts (October, 1912), they had no settled pastor. Neither have the Catholics any regular local pastor.
THE METHODISTS
The history of Methodism in Oxford township dates from the year 1834, and is principally based upon the recollections of some of the old-
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
est members. Rev. J. F. Davidson gathered some of these accounts previous to 1877, and these, with later recorded events, have furnished data for a more complete history of the church.
Early in 1834 Rev. J. E. Davidson and Rev. John Kensar were ap- pointed to the Farmington district, which in those days extended north beyond the bounds of the county. At Paint creek they held regular preaching services, and there Rev. Davidson organized a class of seven Methodists. Three years later Revs. Earl and Britton organized a class at Oxford, numbering ten in all, the members being William H. Powell, Peter Makely, Daniel Haines, Rufus Moore and Daniel Ingals, with their wives. Peter Makely was chosen classleader. From that time on regular preaching services were maintained in the schoolhouse, until in 1843 the church had expanded so. well that it was decided to build a place of worship more fitting than they then possessed. A board of trustees was appointed, including W. H. Powell, Joseph Tindall, Daniel Ingals, David Applegate, John Clemons, John Stone and Peter Tubbs, and under their direction, the work was begun.
A frame edifice, thirty-two by forty-two, with twelve foot posts, was erected in the village, and in this house the society worshipped nearly thirty years. In 1867 increased numbers again made further building expedient, and a new board of trustees was elected to inaugurate and carry out the work. The new board was composed of Joseph C. Powell, John W. Phillips, Hiram Travis, Alfred Van Wagoner, David Apple- gate, Thomas W. Powell and E. J. Boice, Rev. William Taylor being presiding elder of the circuit in which Oxford was controlled. On the 24th of June, 1868, the corner-stone of the new edifice was erected, and the present structure, a frame building, forty feet wide by seventy feet in length, two stories high, was erected and completed at a cost of $6,500. It has a seating capacity of five hundred, and is conveniently arranged for the services of church and Sunday-school.
In March, 1869, dedicatory services were held by Dr. George B. Joslyn, president of Albion College, and the growth of the church has been continuous since that time. A list of the pastors connected with the church since its formative period in 1837 is here given: Revs. Earl and Britton, 1837-8; Rev. John Cosart, 1838-40; Rev. William Mother- sill, 1840-41 ; Rev. Hiram Law, 1841-42; Rev. Thomas Granger, 1842- 43; Rev. Salmon Steele, 1843-45; Rev. John Gray, 1845-47; Rev. C. C. Woodward, 1847-49; Rev. F. C. Britton, 1849-50; Rev. Andrew Bell, 1850-51 ; Rev. B. F. Pritchard, 1851-53; Rev. L. P. Lee and Rev. Gray, 1853-55; Rev. T. Seeley, 1855-56; Rev. Wm. Moon, 1856-57 ; Rev. Rufus C. Crane, 1857-59; Rev. Samuel Bessey, 1859-61 ; Rev. Alfred Allen, 1861-63 ; Rev. J. R. Noble, 1863-65; Rev. Johna A. McIlwaine, 1865-68; Rev. J. F. Dory, 1868-69; Rev. W. H. Benton, 1869-70; Rev. N. Green, 1870-72 ; Rev. J. O. Bancroft, 1872-74 ; Rev. J. F. Davidson, 1874-78; Rev. Orin Whitmore, 1878; Rev. David Casler, 1878-82; Rev. H. O. Parker, 1882-84; Rev. H. W. Hicks, 1884-86; Rev. C. M. Thompson, 1886-88; Rev. W. E. Bigelow, 1888-89; Rev. J. B. Whitford, 1889-94; Rev. Nor- man C. Karr, 1894-97; Rev. C. C. Squires, 1897-98; Rev. James A. Lowry, 1898-1900; Rev. Samuel Jennings, 1900-1903; Rev. S. Morley
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
Preston, 1903-06; Rev. H. H. Hough, 1906-10; Rev. Walter H. Smith, 1910, is the present incumbent.
The organized society is now seventy-five years old, this being one of the oldest established church organizations in the county. The pres- ent membership of the church is one hundred and sixty-five.
THE BAPTISTS
Although the Baptist church was notably among the first to send the pioneer missionary into Oxford, no effort was made to organize a society of believers in that faith until 1859. At that time an organization was effected, and the history of the society was given in detail by Milo Smith, a minister of the Baptist church. Organization was effected on the 4th day of September, 1859, with eight members, as follows: William Bettys, Isaac Brown, Griffin Greene, Squire Tanner, Frederick Wicks and Arte- mesia Brown. William Bettys and Griffin Greene were elected deacons and Squire Tanner clerk.
Formal recognition of the church as such was made by a council, called for that specific purpose on July 2, 1862, consisting of delegates from the churches at Pontiac, Rochester, Oakland, Brandon and Hadley, and in August, following, it was received into the fellowship of the Flint River Baptist Association. Rev. A. S. Taft was the first pastor of the church, called on November 12, 1859, and he continued as pastor until April 27, 1861. Monthly covenant meetings were held and some addi- tions made to the church without a pastor, until January 1, 1862, when Rev. William M. Fuller was called to the charge. His pastoral relation was discontinued on January 2, 1864. During this time the meetings were held in the school-house and the Methodist church, but in 1867 the society felt itself able to build a church home for itself, and accordingly, on December 9, 1868, the society formally dedicated a fine building, erected at a cost of five thousand dollars. The church was built un- der the direction and leadership of Rev. S. Gardner, who was succeeded in March, 1869, by Rev. J. J. Gundy, who served until May, 1871. Rev. D. Gostelow succeeded him on December 3, 1871 and resigned on May 4, 1873, and in February of 1874, Rev. J. M. Titterington became pastor, his resignation going into effect in September, 1876. The place thus made vacant was filled by Rev. S. Gardner, who had previously served the little company so faithfully in the days of its early struggles. June of 1877 was marked by the union of the Baptists and Methodists of Oxford in a series of meetings, which awakened such an abiding interest that they were continued for several weeks. About the same time a series of meetings were inaugurated in the Christian church at Rochester, and these gatherings the Baptists also attended, lending their aid to such good effect that hundreds were added to the church. In April, 1877, Rev. Milo Smith was called to the church, and he began his labors among the people amidst the most encouraging auspices. The Sunday- school was organized in May, 1859, and has ever been one of the strong- est factors of the church work. Following the close of Rev. Smith's pastorate in April, 1879, the church was successively in charge of the pastors here named : Rev. W. H. Mills, 1879-85; Rev. C. C. Miller,
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
January I, 1886, to May, 1889; Rev. A. G. Cameron, November 3, 1889, to October 11, 1891 ; Rev. T. S. Woodin, January 3, 1893, to November I, 1897 ; Rev. F. B. Cutler, November 28, 1897 to January 1, 1907; Rev. F. Dewey Ehle, January 1, 1908, to April 1, 1909; Rev. Franklin Galloway, April 1, 1909, to October 30, 1910; Rev. K. N. Morrell, December 4, 1910, and still pastor of the church.
In 1906 the church society replaced the old building with a fine new structure, suited in every way to the demands of the congregation. The present church membership is one hundred and thirty-five.
NEWSPAPERS AND SOCIETIES
Oxford has two newspapers. The Leader is an independent Repub- lican weekly and issued its first number April 12, 1879. Its proprietors are now E. H. Congdon and A. B. Glaspie. John Cannon is editor and proprietor of the Globe, a more recent addition to the list of Oakland county newspapers.
Oxford is represented by a number of secret and benevolent organi- zations-Masons, Knights of Pythias, Knights and Ladies of Maccabees, Order of the Eastern Star and Pythian Sisters. The Masons are so strong that they are about to erect a $14,000 temple, the building to be given over to business purposes as well as to the accommodation of the different Masonic bodies.
OXFORD INDUSTRIES
The development of the industries of Oxford form an interesting recital, in view of its present substantial standing from a manufactur- ing and industrial viewpoint, and the early activity of the place in that respect dates back to 1838. In that year Isaac Annice, a blacksmith, lo- cated in Oxford. He was the first man to establish a smithing business, and was for many years the principal blacksmith of the village. In 1840 Robert Haines came to the village and built a shop, being the first wagon- maker to do business in Oxford.
In 1840 Daniel F. Ingals and Benjamin Knight built a small foundry at Oxford, where they made plows, sleigh-shoes and did repair work for farmers. An interesting piece of work carried out in their little shop was the making of a gun, which one of the local citizens wished to help cele- brate the nation's natal day. Knight & Ingals undertook to cast one at their foundry, and Perry Ball made the model. The work of casting was sufficiently simple, but it was found a somewhat difficult matter to drill the bore. It was finally accomplished by sinking the gun into the ground in an upright position, and then, by the aid of sweeping levers to which drills were affixed, carried round and round like the levers of a threshing power, four men did the work, which required several days. After the work was done they were afraid the gun would burst if used, and to test its strength they tied it to a stump, and putting in a heavy charge, were gratified to find it equal to the strain. This novel piece of ordnance was used to announce the advent of Independence Day in 1841, and has sub- sequently been employed on many similar occasions.
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
There was a gradual growth of the smaller industries incidental to the development of an agricultural center, and it was not until 1869 that the manufacturing interests began to locate in Oxford, since which time the growth in that line has been constant and extensive. The Oxford Valley Mills were established in 1869, and were used for some years as a planing mill, later being reconstructed and used as a gristmill. In 1865 John Clemons established the Oxford Carriage Factory, which has since done a thriving business in the manufacture of carriages, phaetons and other light vehicles. Mitchell, Williams & Company organized the Oxford Agricultural Works, which absorbed a large number of smaller shops and foundries in 1873 and gradually became an extensive factory. It specialized in the manufacture of farming machinery. The Oxford Machine Works were established in 1869 by Nichols & Cushing. In 1873 the Oxford Marble Works came into existence, its proprietors then being Brown & Morton. A carriage manufactory was established in October, 1876, by Mckenzie & Titus. The Oxford Vinegar Fac- tory was organized in 1876, and produced pure cider and wine vinegar. The Oxford Brewery was erected in September, 1876, with William Finden as proprietor. The Oxford Steam Planing Mill was built in 1877 by Alexander Johnson. In 1859 G. J. Whitcomb and H. Baldwin established a furniture and cabinet shop, they being the first cabinet- makers in the village; they also did a general furniture and undertaking business. Most of these plants have disappeared, the flour and feed mills, planing mill and carriage and wagon factory having been burned within recent years. A pure food factory is also one of the recent in- dustries which has gone up in flames and smoke.
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