USA > Michigan > Oakland County > History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests Volume II > Part 30
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JEROME F. ARNOLD. A native son of Oakland county and a scion of one of its sterling pioneer families, Mr. Arnold became one of the large landholders and representative farmers and stock growers of his native township of Addison, where he labored effectively in the acquire- ment of a personal success and was also a strong contributor toward the development of the natural resources of the county.
On the paternal side he was descended from sturdy New England ancestry that originally came from England, while his mother was a representative of an old New York family. Born August 10, 1844, Mr. Arnold was a son of Robert Arnold, who also was a native son of Michigan, his birth having occurred in Macomb county on the 9th of September, 1814. Christopher Arnold, the grandfather of our subject, was a native of Massachusetts. Robert Arnold came to Oakland county in 1835 and settled on a tract of one hundred and sixty acres in section twenty in Addison township. Thus for fully three-quarters of a cen- tury this family has been identified with the life of Addison township
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and the name remains today locally significant of honor and worth. The wife of Robert Arnold bore the maiden name of Amy Stitt and was born in New York on June 4, 1817. To their union were born eight children: George F., whose birth occurred September 22, 1839, and who died April 11, 1912; Margaret A., who was born May 20, 1841, and died October 24, 1862, the wife of Jacob Shultz, of Oakland county ; Martha A., born November 25, 1842, who became the wife of Hiram Thompson, of Shiawassee county, Michigan, and died May 12, 1874; Jerome F., the subject of this review, who died July 3, 1912; Thomas B., who was born October 30, 1846, and died in 1891; Lewis P., born January 8, 1849, who died January 1, 1885; Rosanna, born March IO, 1851, who is the wife of Austin Allen, of Lapeer county, Michigan; and Robert N., who was born July 3, 1853, and died in 1889. Both parents have passed away, the father's death having occurred on September 2, 1854, and that of the mother on February 26, 1897. The father had de- voted his whole life to agricultural pursuits.
Jerome F. Arnold was but a lad at the time of his father's death, and he remained with his mother until he had attained his majority, commendably assisting in all the duties of the farm. The nucleus of his farm holdings was purchased when he was twenty-four years of age and consisted of twelve acres of the old home place. He devoted him- self assiduously to the improvement of his property, which at the time of purchase, was in its primeval condition, and he lived in a log cabin and cleared the land. Prosperity attended his efforts, but the foundation of that prosperity was toil, perseverance, and the application of a thought- ful intelligence in directing his labors. In a few years he bought forty acres more; then later added another tract of one hundred and sixty acres to his holdings and at the time of his death owned the one hun- dred and sixty acres where he resided and had given eighty acres to each of two sons. Mr. Arnold all these years followed the general lines of agriculture, together with stockraising, and a gratifying degree of success crowned his efforts.
On September 2, 1868, he was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Ann Snyder, a sister of Oscar J. Snyder. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold were born five children, as follows: Nora, the wife of Charles Galbraith, of Genesee county, Michigan; Bruce, a farmer in this town- ship; Eda, the wife of Guy Cascadden, of Macomb county, Michigan ; Jerome F., Jr. and Mary, both of whom are at the parental home.
Mr. Arnold was a Republican in his political views, always took a loyal interest in public affairs of a local nature, and served as a com- missioner of Oakland county. He was identified with the Methiodist Episcopal church, as is also his family, and as a citizen enjoyed an en- viable standing in his community.
DARWIN MILLER. In view of the restless spirit which seems to ani- mate all classes of American citizens, especially farmers, and causes them to seek here and there in the newer sections of our country for greater advantages, attention is drawn to those localities so rich in their natural resources as to hold to their soil and a majority of their native sons. Southern Michigan has suffered as little by emigration as has perhaps any section east of the Mississippi, and Oakland county stands well to the fore for the number of its citizens that are native born. One of these is Darwin Miller, a well known farmer of Addison township,
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who was born in that township on October 3, 1851, and has spent his entire life in the vicinity of his birthplace.
He is a son of Sanford and Juliet (Inman) Miller, both of whom were natives of New York. At the age of twenty-one Sanford Miller came to Michigan, which was then a territory, and became a pioneer settler in Oakland county. In 1856 he located on the farm on which our subject now resides and owns and lived there until his death. The mother also passed away on this homestead. They were the parents of six children, namely : Harrison, a resident of Allegan, Michigan; Martha Ann, deceased; Maryett, the wife of Thomas Allen, of Allegan county, Michigan; Nathan, a resident of Leonard, Michigan; Darwin, whose name introduces this review; and Frank, deceased.
Darwin Miller received his education in the district schools of this county and at the age of twenty took up carpentering. Later he turned his attention to farming, eventually purchasing the old home place of eighty acres in Addison township where he has continued to be en- gaged in general agricultural pursuits and in stockraising.
The marriage of Mr. Miller took place on September 17, 1879, and united him to Miss Eva Bachelor, a daughter of Samuel and Ann (Swal- low) Bachelor, the former of whom was a native of New York and the latter of New Jersey. They were old residents of Oakland county, Michigan, at the time of their respective deaths. There were nine chil- dren born to them, including: Jane, who is the widow of Ira Powers and resides in Oakland county ; Mary, the widow of Adam Lare, and a resident of Ann Arbor, Michigan; Electa and Sarah, deceased; Ellen, who is the widow of John Rote and resides in Pontiac; Eva, the wife of our subject; Marcus P., a resident of Oakland county ; and Frank, who resides at Orchard Lake, Michigan. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Miller but both died in infancy.
In his political adherency Mr. Miller is a Republican, and both his and his wife's religious faith is indicated by their membership in the Protestant Methodist church. In the community in which he has spent his entire life he is known as a man of honor and integrity and one worthy of recognition as a representative of the best citizenship of Oak- land county.
Roy F. PRICE is one of the successful young business men of Ox- ford, and his success has been accomplished by the same enterprise to which his father was devoted during his years of business activity. Since 1906 Mr. Price has given his energies to the maintenance of the drug business established by his father in Oxford some thirty years ago, and in addition to that occupation, is serving his fellow townsmen in the office of village clerk.
Mr. Price is a native son of Oxford, born here on March 30, 1879, the son of Hiram H. and Lorissa J. (Smith) Price, both of whom were natives of Michigan. Hiram Price was a pharmacist all his life and devoted himself to that business until the time of his death, on March IO, 1894. They were the parents of four children: Charles G., who is living at Flint, Michigan; Elisha S .; Roy F., of this review; and Flora M., the wife of Lee Earl, of Orion, Michigan. The wife and mother survived her husband by several years, conducting the drug busi-
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ness in Oxford after her husband's death until Roy F. assumed control in 1906. She passed way on August 17, 1907.
Roy Price grew up in Oxford and after his graduation from the high school taught school in Oakland county for several years, after which he pursued a course in pharmacy at the Marlett School of Phar- macy, in Marlett, Michigan, with the idea of fitting himself for his father's calling. He was graduated from that institution with high standing and passed his examination before the state board in June, 1906, after which he immediately entered the drug store of his father, which his mother had been conducting since the death of Mr. Price. The death of Mrs. Price occurred in the following year, whereupon Roy Price formed a partnership with his brother Elisha S., under the firm name of Price Brothers, and they continued to operate the store under that partnership until July 1, 1912, when Elisha S. Price retired from the business, leaving his brother in sole possession. The establish- ment has prospered under the regime of Price Brothers, fully maintain- ing the high standard of excellence for which the name stood in the years when conducted by Hiram Price and in later years by his widow.
On August 7, 1907, Mr. Price was united in marriage with Miss Nora Z. Higgins, daughter of James and Hattie (Hendricks) Higgins, both natives of Michigan. The father was a carpenter by trade, and the family home was located in Rochester, Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Price have one child, Virginia E., born August 16, 19II.
Mr. Price is a Democrat, and his fraternal relations are represented by his membership in the Masons, the Knights of Pythias and the Wood- men.
EDWARD H. LEROY. Now an enterprising and progressive market gardener and dairyman, and one of the best known traders and business men in Pontiac, Edward H. LeRoy has come to his present settled con- dition and established business through a great variety of occupations, followed in many different places, and under conditions altogether dis- similar from time to time. And, while he may seem to have been much of a wanderer, his wanderings have not been without fruits of value to him and the people with whom he now associates and does business. They gave him extensive and accurate knowledge of others and of him- self, taught him manners and customs in different localities, and devel- oped his own faculties to meet the competition he found everywhere among men in business and every other aggregate relation in life.
Mr. LeRoy is a native of Oakland county, born on May 1, 1845, in the township of Avon, where his parents, Peter F. and Laura C. (Riggs) LeRoy, were then living. The father was born in New York state and the mother in Connecticut. The paternal grandfather brought his family, or part of it, to Michigan in 1827, and located in Avon. At that time the father remained in New York for a year, settling up some business in which he and the grandfather were interested, and complet- ing his apprenticeship to the carpenter trade. In 1828 he followed the rest of the family to this county, and after his arrival abandoned his trade and devoted his energies to general farming and raising live stock until 1882. In that year he retired from active pursuits and changed his residence to Rochester, this county, where both he and his wife died in 1895. They were the parents of four children: James, who died a num- ber of years ago; Ann Eliza, who is now the widow of Andrew J. Hayes,
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of Trenton, Michigan; Edward H .; and Alfred R., whose home is in Bloomfield township, this county. Edward H. left the home place at the age of twenty-five and went with his father-in-law to conduct some farming operations in the neighborhood. But at the end of one year he returned to the old home and in partnership with his younger brother Alfred bought the place, and they cultivated it together for two years.
In 1873 Edward gave up the farm and moved to Pontiac, and here he engaged with Abram Osmun as a salesman in agricultural imple- ments for two years. He then changed his base of operations to Sagi- naw and his line of trade to the ice business, which he conducted for one year. At the end of that time he returned to Pontiac, and a short time afterward located with his father-in-law on sixty acres of land in Oakland township. He remained on that farm five years, then after passing a year in Texas for the benefit of his health, he returned to Pon- tiac and began doing contract work for the woolen mills, continuing his activity in this line three years, during which his wife tended a toll gate on the Birmingham road. They remained for a period of ten years, and during the last seven years of this time Edward LeRoy worked most of the time at carpenter work.
By this time his son had entered the University at Ann Arbor, and the parents moved to that city and lived there until the son completed his course of instruction and received his degree. The son was ap- pointed principal of the school in Pontiac, and the parents returned to that city, where for one year the father conducted a home bakery. The son had, however, passed one year as high school principal, and ac- cepted a position as a reporter and writer on the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News, one year on each.
After his return to Pontiac the last time Mr. LeRoy bought eight acres of land southwest of the city for the purpose of conducting a market and truck garden, and rented sixty acres more for the purpose of carrying on an extensive dairying business. In these fields of indus- try and trade he flourished and was kept busy until the death of his wife on January 10, 1910. After that sad event he sold his desolated home and again moved into Pontiac, where he has ever since had his home at 99 Henderson street.
Mr. LeRoy was married on March 22, 1869, to Miss Jennie F. In- goldsby, who died on January 10, 1910, as has been stated. By this mar- riage he became the father of five children: Lucy M., who is now the wife of William Sherman, of Pontiac; Sarah, who is one of the teachers in the Pontiac high school; James A., who has been dead a number of years; Mary L., the wife of Robert Bromley, of Pontiac; and Clyde, who died in infancy.
In politics Mr. LeRoy gives his faith and support to the Republican party, but he has never been an active partisan and has never sought a public office of any kind. In religious connection he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church. In reference to the public affairs of the community he is public-spirited and progressive, always willing and ready to aid in supporting any good agency at work among the people and help to push the car of progress along at the most rapid pace con- sistent with the general welfare. He is a first rate citizen, a good busi- ness man and an influence for betterment in every way, and the people of all classes in all parts of the county esteem him as such.
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GEORGE P. INGERSOLL. As a resident of southern Michigan all his life, George P. Ingersoll has been engaged in various industries, all related in some measure to the agricultural business. He has given his attention successively to general farming, huckstering, stockraising and buying, droving and for twenty-five years carried on a thriving trade in Christmas trees for the southern market. He is a veteran of the Civil war, and, all around, has had a wide and varied experience in the years he has passed thus far.
Born in Branch county, Michigan, on February 13, 1847, he is the son of Orson and Harriet (Smith) Ingersoll, both of whom were born in New York state. Thomas Ingersoll, the father of Orson Ingersoll and grandfather of the subject, came to Farmington township in 1835. There he located land for a home for his family, and in 1839 brought them from New York to Oakland county. There Orson Ingersoll was reared and in early manhood he married and located in his home village. When George Ingersoll was about a year old the family moved to Mil- ford, Illinois, and in that place he began to attend school. After six years of life there the family returned to Farmington, and the father engaged in work as a cattle drover between Farmington and Detroit. George attended school in Clarence village, Farmington township, but his schooling terminated when he was about twelve years old. In 1858 the family moved to Commerce village, where they remained for a year, after which Orson Ingersoll bought a farm in Bloomfield township. He later sold the place and moved to Walled Lake, thence to Farmington.
In January, 1864, George P. Ingersoll enlisted from Farmington in Company A of the Twenty-second Michigan Infantry. On June 27, 1865, he was transferred to Company F of the Twenty-ninth Michigan In- fantry, and on September 6, 1865, was honorably discharged at Murphys- boro. He was in the Sherman campaign, and for a considerable time was employed doing guard duty in charge of prisoners of war. Upon his discharge from the service he returned to Farmington and engaged in huckstering, and later entered upon the buying and selling of stock of all kinds. He purchased a farm in Farmington, and for a matter of twenty-five years was engaged in shipping Christmas trees to south- ern cities.
In 1870 Mr. Ingersoll met and married Miss Mary Richardson, of Saginaw, Michigan. She was born in England, and with her family came to America as a young girl. Her mother died on the trip and was buried at sea. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ingersoll; John M., who married Ida Hodge, of Walled Lake and lives at Farm- ington; Lettie and Bertha died in infancy; Thomas is on the farm, as is also Norman, both boys having an interest with their father in the place ; George B. is a mechanical draftsman and designer, and is in the employ of the Minneapolis Auto Company, of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The Ingersoll farm consists of an eighty acre tract, and is under a high state of cultivation. They have a ten acre peach orchard, now in its fifth year. They do a general farming business, raising as many horses, cattle and hogs as the land will permit.
The family is one of good social standing in Walled Lake, and they are well known throughout the township in which they have made their home for so many years. Mr. Ingersoll is a member of the G. A. R. Post, No. 181, of Milford, Michigan.
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JAMES K. VOORHEIS. The scion of a fruitful family, in which the good old fashion of having a house full of children has prevailed for many generations, James K. Voorheis, one of the prominent and pro- gressive farmers of Waterford township in this county, has kept up the customs and traditions of his family in this respect as well as in being an excellent farmer, a straightforward, upright and public-spirited citi- zen, a man true to his duty in every particular, and a great booster for the locality in which he lives and his interests lie, Pontiac and Oakland county being to him objects of greater solicitude than any other por- tion of the country, or, for that matter, any other part of the whole world.
Mr. Voorheis was born in the township and on the farm which is now his own in Waterford township, Oakland county, Michigan, on September 6, 1843, a son of Isaac and Sarah (Terry) Voorheis, the grandfather also being named Isaac. The father, a son of John Voor- heis, was born in Palmyra, New York, in 1806, and resided there until 1824, when he came to Oakland county, Michigan. Here he entered land from the government, locating in section 36, Waterford township. On this place he passed the remainder of his days, and here, on the soil hallowed by his labors, he died on July 12, 1892. He was a Demo- crat in politics and a Methodist in religion. In early manhood he wedded Sarah Terry, a daughter of Nathan and Nellie Terry, natives of Tarry- town (possibly Terryville) New York. Eleven children were born to this worthy couple, of whom Sarah, the mother of Mr. Voorheis, was the first. She was born in the state of New York in 1806 and was brought to Michigan by her parents in 1823, when she was seventeen years of age. Here her long and useful life ended on July 13, 1899, at the age of ninety-three. To the parents of James K. Voorheis eight children were born, five of whom are living: Lucy A., whose residence is in Detroit; Susan, the widow of Arza Donalson, of Waterford town- ship, in this county; John, whose home is at Farmington; James K .; and Ebb, who is a resident of Pontiac. The children of the household who died were Nathan, William T. and Frank, the second, third and sixth in the order of birth.
When Isaac Voorheis was nineteen years of age he took up from the government in this county one hundred and sixty acres of land as a homestead, the farm James K. now owns. The latter earned his first money by trapping, and with this he bought a few acres of land on Sylvan Lake, on which for a little while he did general farming and raised some live stock. But he sold this land in a short time, and dur- ing the next five years worked out for other persons. He received $1,000 from his father for the work he did on the homestead, and he saved $500 more which he earned by working for others during the winters. With this capital as a basis he decided to purchase the old home place, and with this end in view took up his residence on eighty acres of it. In five years he paid off all the other heirs of the estate of his father and became the proud possessor of his parental home free of all incumbrances. It embraced one hundred and seventy-three acres, and by additional purchases he increased it to two hundred and thirty acres, of which he has since sold about thirty acres. He culti- vated the farm diligently and skillfully until October, 1911, when he retired from active pursuits.
Mr. Voorheis was first married to Miss Clara Reeves in 1868. She
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died within that year, and on May 30, 1871, he married as his second wife Miss Lucinda J. Smith, who was born in the same township as himself on May 15, 1853, and is a daughter of Israel and Mirah J. (Colvin) Smith. The mother was brought to Michigan by her parents when she was thirteen years old, and at the age of twenty-one she be- came the wife of Israel Smith. Eight children were born of their union, all of them natives of Waterford township in this county. They were : Joshua, who was a blacksmith, went to California and died there; Na- than, who died on his farm in his native township, where his family is still living; Theron, who now lives in California; Mrs. Sarah Church, who also removed to California and died in that state; Lucinda J., the wife of Mr. Voorheis; Israel, who is farming in Independence town- ship, this county; George, who went to California when he was twenty- one years of age, and from there to Wyoming, after which the family lost all trace of him; and Frank, who died when he was but two years old. The father of these children died in Oakland county aged seventy, and the mother on February 16, 1908, aged nearly eighty-nine.
Israel Smith, the father of Mrs. Voorheis, was born in the state of Vermont, on June 4, 1816. In his boyhood he migrated to New York state, and from there came to Michigan, locating in Waterford town- ship, Oakland county, where he passed the remainder of his life engaged in farming. He was a Democrat in politics and a member of the Chris- tian church in religion. His marriage with Miss Mirah J. Colvin took place in 1842.
Mrs. Voorheis received her education in the school in Donaldson district, Waterford township. By her marriage she has become the mother of eleven children, two of whom died in infancy and two in later years. The seven who are living are: Nellie, the wife of Harley C. Bell, of Medford, Oregon; Susan, the wife of Peter (or Reator) Davidson, of Pontiac; Lucy, the wife of William Beattie, of Tulsa, Oklahoma ; Myra, the wife of Oscar B. Goss, of Pontiac; Richard, who lives in Vancouver, British Columbia; and Ruth and Hazel, who are living at home with their parents.
Mr. and Mrs. Voorheis are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Voorheis has been a member of the Masonic fraternity since 1865, and his wife belongs to its adjunct or auxiliary, the Order of the Eastern Star. In politics he is independent, voting for the man whom he considers best suited to the office and most likely to discharge its duties with an eye single to the general weal. He has been path- master, an office in the road improvement service, continuously for for- ty-five years.
This excellent farmer, straightforward and upright citizen and thor- oughly representative man is now verging on seventy years of age and he has passed the whole of his life to this time (1912) among the people by whom he is surrounded now. He is well known all over Oakland county, and in all parts of it is well esteemed for his genuine worth in all the relations of life. His ability as a farmer is everywhere com- mended. His integrity and high character as a man are worthy of all praise and receive it. His public spirit and usefulness as a citizen have fixed him firmly in the regard of the whole people, and his genial and obliging disposition have won him the good will of everybody who knows him. And in all the encomiums bestowed upon him his amiable and intelligent wife comes in for a full and unstinted share.
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