USA > Michigan > Oakland County > History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests Volume II > Part 32
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56
John R. Williams became one of the most prominent and wealthy citizens in Detroit. He wrote the memorial to congress which resulted in the completion of the plans for making Detroit a city. He was the author of the first city charter and was elected its first mayor, holding this office for five terms at different periods. In those days the office was simply honorary, and the work was not easy, for Detroit was a growing city. However, John R. Williams was unsparing of both him- self and his time, and took an exceedingly active part in promoting the growth and prosperity of the city. He appreciated the great future that would come to the lake states and realized the strategic position of Detroit; therefore he advocated broad streets and public parks, and other improvements that seemed too ambitious to many people. It was under his direction that the Grand Circus park was laid out and planted with trees. He was a delegate to the first constitutional convention held at Ann Arbor, became president of that body, and later presented its action to congress in Washington. He ran at one time for delegate to congress but was defeated. At the breaking out of the Black Hawk war, he once more became a soldier and was placed in command of the territorial troops that marched to Chicago to defend the little western settlement. Later he served for some time as adjutant general and was appointed by the president as major general of the militia of the terri- tory, an office which he held up to the time of his death in 1854.
John R. Williams married Mary Mott at Claverack on the Hudson, New York. She was a daughter of Major Gershorn Mott, of the Continental army, who had been with Montgomery at Quebec, in 1775 and had taken part in many of the fiercest battles of the Revolution. Nine children were born of this marriage, Ferdinand being the eldest. His birth took place in Detroit, on the 26th of October, 1806. He was reared in the faith to which his father adhered, the Roman Catholic, in spite of the fact that his mother was a Protestant. His father was
723
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
very ambitious for his son, and sent him to school at the age of six. From this time until he was ready for college he was kept in various schools, and then there being no college nearer than New York his father took him to Utica, the trip being made by stage coach and sailing vessel. Here it was found that he was not ready to enter Hamilton College, which is not far from Utica, so he spent several months in an academy at Utica preparing for the rigid examinations he was called upon to face. He passed them safely and was admitted to the college, where he remained for four years, at the end of this time graduating with high honors. He had devoted himself to the classical course, and his degree of Astium Baccalaurens was engraved on a latin worded diploma.
One of the passions of his whole life was a love of the woods and especially of hunting. As a boy he had roamed the woods near Detroit, and now at college when he found that the students were forbidden the use of firearms, he revolted and securing a gun from one of the residents of the place, hid it in a hollow tree, and on Saturday afternoon, would slip off to have a taste of his favorite sport. This led to the only prank which he played in college. The shots could be heard from the college, and the president hearing in some way that one of his students was the guilty party, set forth to locate the miscreant. He was an old gentleman and his eye sight was not very good, and therefore young Williams, who had been warned that the old man was on his trail, when he reached the woods one afternoon, fired a shot and then stepped off to one side behind a tree and watched the old man come along; then slipping quietly off to one side he fired another and hid. In this way he had the poor old man chasing from one end of the woods to the other, much bewildered because he could not catch a glimpse of the marksman.
It was while attending college that Mr. Williams had an experience that was always a treasured memory to him, and this was a meeting with General Lafayette, who was at this time just finishing his tour of the United States. A large public reception was held for him in Utica, and Ferdinand attended. The weather was warm and the old general seemed tired and travel worn, but with characteristic French courtesy he had a pleasant word for every one. Mr. Williams often told one story that illustrates admirably the tact for which he was noted. When he was introduced to the widow of Dr. Kirkland, who was one of the founders of Hamilton College, he remarked: "Oh, yes, I remember your husband very well. He was my guide." The words were uttered in English, and from the expression on Mrs. Kirkland's face, he saw that he had made a mistake, and quick to see it he added "I mean my spiritual guide." His remark had it been in French would have been perfectly clear, but in using English he had given Mrs. Kirkland the impression that he in- tended classing her illustrious husband with backwoods guides, while in reality he had been a chaplain at the headquarters of the Continental army and a friend of the General's. His quick wit changed her frown to a smile, and Mr. Williams always remembered this little anecdote of the old General.
Upon completing his collegiate education Ferdinand Williams re- turned to Detroit and entered the law office of Hon. A. D. Fraser, a famous old-time lawyer. The study of law proved distasteful to him, chiefly on acount of the confinement that it enforced and the lack of an active life that its practice would involve. It was at about this time
724
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
that his father and one of his uncles bought the printing outfit of the progenitor of the Detroit Free Press, and Ferdinand became an editorial writer on the paper. Being unafraid and outspoken in his criticism of certain public men and measures, he got into difficulty and rather than smooth things over he resigned his position.
He had always had a love for the wilderness and had desired the life of a frontiersman, and so now he turned his face toward the great unbroken spaces. He bought a French pony and started out for a sec- tion of wild land owned by his father in St. Joseph county. This he found on arriving was undesirable and made his way thence to Jackson county, but the land there did not satisfy him either. Upon returning to Detroit he could not give up his desire and so one day he rode out to the home of an old acquaintance, Oliver Williams, in Oakland county, who had settled there on the banks of Silver Lake, a few miles west of Pontiac, as early as 1817. Ferdinand announced that he had come to find a place in which to settle, and Oliver Williams' sons showed him the very loveliest spot in the whole county, as they thought and as Ferdi- nand thought too when he saw it. The section was located on the high banks of a small lake, now known as Williams Lake, in the township of Waterford. The land was high and not too thickly timbered and Ferdi- nand immediately made up his mind to settle here. Accordingly for the sum of twelve dollars, Oliver Williams cut and hauled and erected a log house, body and rafters, and Ferdinand himself with a little assis- tance put on the roof and completed it.
It was about this time that Ferdinand Williams met his future wife, Phebe, a daughter of Seth and Urania Cook, who were at the time living on a farm on the outskirts of the little settlement of Pontiac. The ancestors of Seth Cook and his wife came over on the Mayflower and settled first in Massachusetts and then in Rhode Island. Seth Cook was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was wounded at the battle of Lundy's Lane. He settled in West Bloomfield, near Rochester, New York, and here his daughter, Phebe, was born on March 16, 1808. She came to Michigan with her parents in June, 1824, and it was not many years later that she met and married Ferdinand Williams. They came to their new home on the 4th of November, 1829, and began a life which was truly a life in the wilderness. Their nearest neighbors were two and a half miles distant and to the west and north stretched forests totally uninhabited save for Indians, wild beasts, and an occasional Indian trader. It was a paradise for Mr. Williams, for deer, wild turkeys, thousands of wild pigeons and ducks, made the finest sport for a hunter. He had by this time became a famous rifle shot and a noted deer hunter. Hunting to him did not mean simply killing animals for the excitement ; he never killed anything that was useless for food unless it was a beast or bird of prey.
Suffering like all the settlers in this country from fever and ague, Mr. Williams had a hard time making a living for his family. For many years his health was poor, but notwithstanding his weakened condition he worked away clearing his land, and in time had forty of the two hun- dred acres cleared. He also cut the timber and split the rails and laid most of the fences on his place. Feeling that there was a great future for the country in fruit growing, he planted a ten acre orchard about his house, and devoted a great deal of time to the scientific care of his trees. His first crop from his six hundred peach trees proved to be an exceed-
725
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
ingly fine one, but everyone had a crop of peaches that year and since he could get nothing over two shillings a bushel for them, he fed them to his hogs. The following winter was very severe and killed the trees to the roots, and although a few sprang from the roots the following year they were again killed. He had practically the same experience with his apple trees, except that they were destroyed by the apple worm pest. He therefore gave up the idea of orchardizing on anything like a large scale.
In politics Mr. Williams was a Democrat, but he never held office but once and that was for a few months when he was deputy register of deeds for Detroit and Wayne county. Sometime after he had reached middle age the death of his father made him the owner of a comfortable fortune, and he could have moved to the city and lived in ease and luxury, but he preferred the simpler life of his earlier days. Possessed of a keen mentality, and deeply interested in the questions of the day, he was a close and logical reasoner, and his opinions always carried weight. He was sympathetic and charitable in a very quiet way, and his fondness for animals of all kinds almost amounted to a passion. He always had horses, cats and dogs around the place, and insisted even as he grew older on caring for them himself. He was thoroughly honest in all his dealings and had no patience with dishonesty or anything verg- ing on trickery. He was very fond of reading, and this formed his chief amusement, if we except the long walks that he took through the woods, and the hunting that remained up to the last his favorite sport. At the time of his death he possessed a collection of some twenty-five heavy muzzle and breech loading rifles and guns of large and small caliber, besides numerous pistols and revolvers.
His last illness was brought on by an accident, a fall in which he was severly bruised. He lingered for several months and finally died on the 12th of November, 1896, in the beginning of his nintieth year. He was for years the last survivor of his large family of brothers and sisters. He and his wife became the parents of eight children and out of this family only two now survive, a daughter and son, and soon the name to which he brought honor will become extinct, as he has no descendants in the present generation.
DOUGLAS B. MOYER. Experienced in a number of different lines of activity, and through extensive travel acquainted with almost all sections of the United States and the Dominion of Canada, where he has been connected with great industrial enterprises and in the heart of com- mercial life, Douglas B. Moyer, now a resident of Walled Lake, Michi- gan, has met with well earned success in several trades and professions. He was born at Cherry Valley, New York, August 11, 1856, and is a son of James W. and Elizabeth (Hills) Moyer. The father possessed decided talent along artistic lines and was an engraver and carver.
The parents of Douglas B. Moyer moved from Cherry Valley to Cooperstown and afterward to Bainbridge, New York, and there he attended school until he was about eighteen years of age, at which time he went to Afton, New York, and there began the study of dentistry with Dr. Ira A. Yale. Although he did not complete his apprenticeship and graduate as a dentist, he made such substantial advancement that his mother subjected to his extracting her teeth and no doubt proudly wore the set he completed for her. At Redwood, New York, he assisted
726
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
in building the Black River Railroad and during this period secured a very fair knowledge of railroad construction. When that enterprise was completed he went as far west as Chicago, and in that city secured a position as a street car conductor, but this position offered him no future and he then went to the Black Hills. Once more he became a resident of Chicago, and then, after an absence of three years, visited Bainbridge, New York. Even so short an absence had changed conditions in the old home and he terminated his visit in a few days and then went to Clay- ville, New York. There he entered the works of S. A. Mallard & Com- pany, manufacturers of edge tools, entering the polishing department, subsequently becoming an employe, in the same line, in the Tuttle Works, at St. Catherine, Canada. There he became so expert in this department of the edge tool business that he was offered a position by the well known firm of Isaac Blood & Company, at Ballston Springs, New York, where he remained one and one-half years. Mr. Moyer then went to Troy, New York, where he accepted the office of superintendent of the Troy Nickel Works, and there he learned the art of electro-plat- ing. Three years later he was tendered the position of superintendent of the tool polishing department of David Wadsworth & Son, at Auburn, New York, which he favorably considered and remained there for two years, after which he went to Buffalo and took up the sale of Ammadon & White's carpenter corner brace, and for two years sold this device directly to consumers.
A favorable opportunity offering at this time, Mr. Moyer then went to Toronto, Canada, where he established an electro-plating plant, but disposed of the same eight months later, returned to Buffalo and in that city established the Buffalo Electric Plating Works. Here a disaster overtook him, a fire destroying his entire plant before he had secured any insurance. Mr. Moyer then went back on the road as a salesman for the Standard Emery Wheel Company, and continued with them for seven years. In 1895 he entered the employ of the Michigan Stove Works as superintendent of the polishing and buffing department, one year later identifying himself with the Zucker, Levett, Lobe Company, of New York, as their western representative in the sale of electro-plat- ing, polishing and supplies, and remained with this firm until its failure. In 1900 he came to Walled Lake, which has ever since been his summer home, while he conducts his business as manufacturers' agent, at No. 69 Buhl Block, Detroit, Michigan. When Mr. Moyer came to Walled Lake he purchased a forty-acre tract of land known as the old Case farm, a property that had suffered from considerable neglect. It is now a beautiful estate, Mr. Moyer having spent fully ten thousand dollars in improving it. He also has a winter home at Detroit.
At Ballston Springs, New York, Mr. Moyer was married to Miss Carrie Green, who was born at Cohoes, New York, a daughter of Charles and Janet Green, both of whom are deceased. The father died from exposure as a soldier in the Civil war. To Mr. and Mrs. Moyer one daughter was born, Ida May, who was carefully educated and subse- quently married R. W. Hine, who is secretary to the president of the Larrowe Construction Company of Detroit, Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Moyer attend the Baptist church at Walled Lake. He is interested in many movements and organizations of a public nature, as is inevitably the case with a representative and intelligent business man, and frater- nally is connected with both the Masons and the Elks.
727
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
HENRY A. ADERHOLDT. The good stock that existed in the ancestry of Henry A. Aderholdt, of Pontiac, Michigan, is evidenced by the fact that his parents are still living,-a circumstance which is a great joy to Mr. Aderholdt, who is himself past fifty-three. His honored father is now almost eighty-two years of age, and is passing his declining years at Detroit, where he is comfortably situated and surrounded with all that makes life pleasant.
Henry A. Aderholdt was born in Detroit, March 25, 1859, but his parents were natives of Germany. They are August and Charlotte (Bloom) Aderholdt, the former of whom came to America when he was twenty-five years old. The lady who became his wife in after years was but twelve years old when she arrived on American soil. The senior Aderholdt was a maltster by trade, working in a brewery, and he followed this line of work for a quarter of a century, then took up farming, which he pursued with vigor and success until his retirement in 1892. They became the parents of nine children, as follows: Henry A., of this brief review; Mary, who is the widow of Godfried Gierke, of Utica, Michi- gan; Conrad, located in Wisconsin; Charles, of Detroit, a grocer and saloon keeper; August, who is deceased; Elizabeth, the wife of John Ochs, of Detroit; Emilie, also deceased; Christopher, of Detroit; and Anna, the wife of Albert Wathmeister, of Detroit.
At the early age of sixteen Henry A. Aderholdt took up farming, but continued in the work only a short time, when he turned to other occupations. In 1891 he came to Pontiac, here buying twelve acres, in the southeast part of the city. He built a fine two-story house, with suitable barns and sheds, and in 1894 settled down to the business of truck farming, a business of which he has made a splendid success from the start. His own native industry and skill in the work have been the foundation of his prosperity in this business, and no little aid has come from the circumstance of his ideal location for such a project.
Previous to his becoming established in his truck farming, Mr. Ader- holdt and his faithful wife saw some hardships, the like of which many a family experienced in those days, and it is by no means inconsistent that some mention of their early struggles be incorporated in this sketch of their lives.
Following his marriage in 1882, Mr. Aderholdt worked on a farm for a wage as small as sixteen dollars a month, including fuel and house rent. This was on a farm at Pine Lake, the place being known as the Hodges farm. Later he moved with his family to Pontiac, where he secured work in the knitting mill at a wage of $1.25 a day. When he left there he went to Albion, Michigan, and they remained in that city for a year, out of which time Mr. Aderholdt was able to secure not more than nine months of work. Those were the days of great financial depression, and there was a common saying that a man "couldn't buy a job." After their experience in Albion they returned to Pontiac and began over again. For a while Mr. Aderholdt worked around by the day at whatever he could find to do, a dollar a day being the prevailing wage at that time. Later he was so fortunate as to get into the knitting mill as contractor, and while there he made from $50 to $75 and once as high as $103 a month. This piece of good luck continued for some time, when the former contractor came back and resumed his old position, leaving Mr. Aderholdt once more thrown upon his own resources. With praiseworthy thriftiness, the family had saved a few hundreds from
728
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
their earnings in previous months, and thus were enabled to purchase two acres of the land which represents their present home and the course of their fortunes. He partially paid for this land, then rented it out, and with his family moved on what was known at that time as the D. M. Ferry Seed Farm. There he worked for three years, after which he purchased an additional ten acres adjoining the two acres he had previously secured. With this added debt upon the family every member was spurred on to greater efforts to clear themselves from debt and become the real owners of a home of their own. It was but a few short years before they had realized their hope and they are to-day financially independent, able to take their ease in their declining years, should they feel so disposed.
The marriage of Mr. Aderholdt took place on October 19, 1882, when Miss Wilhelmina Hagermann became his bride. She is the daugh- ter of Fred and Caroline (Meitzner) Hagermann, who were natives of Germany and both of whom are now deceased. They came to America in 1873 and settled in Massachusetts, proceeding west to Pontiac in 1876. The father died in Massachusetts, and the mother passed away in Pontiac in 1893. Eight children were born to the Hagermann family: Fred, a resident of Albion, Michigan; William, of Pontiac; Charles, also of Pontiac; Frederica, deceased; Lewis, of Peoria, Illinois; John, of Ponti- ac; Wilhelmina, the wife of Henry A. Aderholdt; and Henry, who is deceased.
Mr. and Mrs. Aderholdt have been blessed with six children, all but two of whom are living. Josephine, born July 2, 1883; is the wife of William Mingst, of Pontiac; Clara, who was born on January 12, 1885, married Deforest Belden, of Pontiac; Louisa, born on January 16, 1888, is the wife of Howard Allen, of Pontiac; Wilhelmina, born August 5, 1890, lives at home with her parents; Carolina, who was born May 21, 1893, died September 25, 1893; and Edward, born on the 28th day of April, 1899, died on November 19th of the same year.
Mr. Aderholdt and his family are communicants of the German Lutheran church. He is a Democrat politically, but not active in that way. He is a man just in all his dealings with his fellowmen, caring nothing for display or affectations of any sort, and whose dearest pleasures are found in his work and his home. He has many friends in Pontiac who recognize and appreciate his sterling qualities of mind and character. Both he and his wife are the possessors of fairly good health, and if that blessing continues may decide to remain engaged in the business for a few years yet, but they feel that they have earned a rest and if an opportunity to dispose of their little truck farm to good advantage presents itself, it is possible they may avail themselves of it and retire from active business life.
STEPHEN M. GAGE. On account of the sword being turned into a pruning hook, figuratively speaking, many sections of the United States were rapidly developed directly after the close of the Civil war, and Oakland county, Michigan, felt the impetus given all over the country by the returning soldiers who were tired of war and ready to appre- ciate the blessings awaiting in the peaceful pursuit of agriculture. From Oakland county had gone out many young men in the flower of youth, some of these, alas, never returning, but those who were so fortunate. in a large number of cases, hastened to acquire land even while ready
729
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
to invest in other lines of business at the same time. Such an one was Stephen M. Gage, who has been postmaster at Walled Lake, Michigan, since 1889 and who has continuously engaged in farming, and in an extensive way, since 1865. Mr. Gage was born in Lyon township, Oak- land county, Michigan, July 7, 1841, and is a son of David and Melinda (Brown) Gage. Both parents were born in New York and were reared, educated and married there, coming to Michigan in 1834 and settling on 160 acres of land which, in 1833, David Gage had pre-empted from the government in Lyon township, Oakland county.
Stephen M. Gage was reared in usual country-boy fashion on the home farm, attending the district schools during the winters and giv- ing assistance at home during the other seasons, and when eighteen years old entered the Michigan State Normal school, where he remained a student for one year. During the winter that he was twenty years old he taught Roahbacher district school in Lyon township. In July, 1862, he enlisted for service in the Civil war, on August 12th of that year being enrolled as a member of Company B, Twentieth Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and soon after enlistment was made cor- poral. In June, 1863, he was promoted to the rank of sergeant, and on January 1, 1864. was made acting orderly sergeant, and continued to serve until he was honorably discharged, July 12, 1865, having parti- cipated in all the dangers to which his regiment had been exposed dur- ing this long interim. More than forty-seven years of quiet and peace- ful life have intervened, but it is not difficult to arouse the old en- thusiasm when the stirring events of that troubled four years are re- called, and those days of danger and hardship, of victory and defeat, of rejoicing and lamentation, Mr. Gage frequently talks over with his comrades who also belong to the Heber Lafavor Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Milford, Michigan.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.