USA > Michigan > Oakland County > History of Oakland County, Michigan, a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 13
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James Graham is remembered for his unbounded hospitality and proverbial kindness. He was not only held in high esteem by his white neighbors, but the Indians as well who would do anything Mrs. Graham asked of them. She died September 7. 1835. He died September 5.
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1837, aged eighty-nine, and they lie buried in the little cemetery the Grahams have consecrated for this purpose.
Mr. Alexander Graham was well versed in the Indian tongue, and acted as interpreter. Benjamin also understood the language and was a trader. He was called by the Indians "Mauchung," which meant chunk bottle, as all commodities sold to them (sugar, flour, powder and whiskey, alike), he measured in a chunky glass bottle. Many interest- ing stories are current of the Graham boys and their representatives are still living in our midst.
NATHANIEL BALDWIN
Nathaniel Baldwin came only a year after the Grahams, and settled near by. He taught school in a log schoolhouse which stood where the stone blacksmith shop now stands. He was born in Goshen, Con- necticut, July 20, 1761. While still a lad he enlisted in the sixth regi- ment from Connecticut under Colonel Parsons. This regiment was organized at the first call for troops and recruited from New London. Hartford and Middlesex counties. He remained on duty at New Lon- don until July 17, 1775, when they were ordered to the Boston camps, where they remained until discharged, December 10, 1775.
After the war Mr. Baldwin was married to Susanna Sherman, niece of Roger Sherman, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independ- ence. Their children were': ( 1.) John. b. July 16, 1784 :- ( 11.) Martha Minot, b. April 20, 1795 ; d. June 28, 1839 ; m. Thomas J. Drake ;- ( III.) Nathaniel Augustus, b. June 27, 1801 ; d. Aug. 22, 1845; m. ( Ist ) Mar- garet, m. (2) Jane Maxwell, April 2, 1842, died March 23, 1884 ;- (IV.) Susana Eliza, b. July 12, 1805; d. Jan. 18, 1858. unmarried ;- (V.) Walter Baldwin, b. Feb. 5, 1809.
The Baldwin Genealogy gives two other children, Sherman and Zimri, and the ancestry of Nathaniel as Nathaniel (4), Nathaniel (3), Samuel (2). Nathaniel (1), of Milford, Connecticut.
Mr. Baldwin moved with his family from Connecticut to East Bloom- field, New York, where they lived many years before coming to Mich- igan. The track of land they occupied lies about two miles south of Rochester, where the Crout farm now is located. His daughter, Susan, taught school in the Postal district in a small log house built for the purpose in 1821, one of the earliest schools in the county.
Mrs. Baldwin seems to have been a woman of excellent Christian character and patience, and died January 2, 1839, aged seventy-four. Na- thaniel Baldwin lived until August 30, 1840. when he was laid to rest in the cemetery at Rochester. Mrs. Milo Newberry, a granddaughter. is the only member of the family now living in Oakland county.
GEORGE HORTON
Another Revolutionary soldier to settle as neighbor to Nathaniel Baldwin and James Graham, was George Horton. He gave his military service in Pennsylvania, enlisting in May. 1780, when nineteen years of
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age, in Captain Shoemaker's company, Pennsylvania troops. lle was in no pitched battles, but participated in several skirmishes with the In- dians. He served until September, 1783.
Mr. Horton emigrated from Northampton county, Pennsylvania, to Canada in 1809, where he settled first at Port Colborne. In 1820 he moved to Yarmouth, Elgin County, Ontario, and in March, 1825, arrived at Detroit, and came to Avon township, settling about two miles south of the village of Rochester. He seems to have lived with his son-in- law, Cornelius Decker, who located on section 21. His son, Benjamin Horton, took up land on section 22. There were about twenty people who came from Canada at this time, the heads of the families being all related to George Horton. Mrs. Elsie Horton, wife of George Horton, was buried in the Rochester cemetery, in February, 1827. He died in 1835, the exact date being unknown, but his last pension was paid March 4, 1835.
STEPHIEN MACK
The blazing of the trail into Oakland county did much for the set- tlement of Michigan, as it proved that the interior of the territory was not the morass that the interested fur traders had reported it to be, unfit for cultivation, but was as fine farming land as could be desired. A company of Detroit and Macomb county men, called the Pontiac Company, with Colonel Stephen Mack as their agent, purchased 1,280 acres of land for the purpose of establishing a town on the tract. The company was formed in November. 1818, and the first building erected on the site of Pontiac was a log cabin put up by their workmen who came out to build the dam and sawmill. It stood on the corner of Saginaw and Water streets, near where the old Clinton House is now located.
Colonel Mack was long the most prominent business man in Pontiac. He was born in Lyme, Connecticut, 1764, and emigrated with his father, Solomon Mack, before the revolution to Gilsum, New Ilamp- shire. The war found both father and son rendering service with the patriots.
Stephen Mack's name appears on a receipt dated Montague, March 24, 1781, for bounty paid said Mack by the town of Montague, to serve in Continental Army for the term of three years; also, descriptive list of men raised in Hampshire to serve in the Continental Army, as re- turned by Noah Goodwin, superintendent ; age, 16 years; stature, 5 feet 4 inches; complexion, light ; occupation, farmer : engaged for town of Montague, April 2, 1781, term of three years; also, private in Captain John Trotter's Company, Colonel Rufus Putnam's sixth regiment ; muster roll for April, 1781 ; dated, West Point. ( Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolution, Vol. 10, page 109. )
Colonel Mack married, 1788, Temperance Bond of Gilsum. and they settled in Tunbridge, Vermont, where he engaged in the mercantile business. He also built a tavern at the "branch" which became famous in after years as the "White House." It was the first painted building in the place. He took a great interest in military matters and eventually
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rose to the command of one of the militia regiments of the Green Moun- tain state, whence came his title of Colonel. About the year 1810 he came to Detroit, where he again embarked as a merchant, and was here when General IIull surrendered to the British. During their occupancy his affairs were in pretty bad shape. After the war was over he engaged in trade under the firm name of Mack and Conant. He was a trustee of the village of Detroit and a member of the reception committee for President Monroe in 1817; supervisor in 1816-1818, and director of the Bank of Michigan in 1818. After the Pontiac Company was formed he made Pontiac his home. He and his partners associated themselves with Judge Sibley as a silent partner and under the name of Mack, Conant and Sibley obtained from the Pontiac Company the title to the water power for which they were to pay a thousand dollars toward county buildings, if the county seat were located at Pontiac. Beside the dam and sawmill, they erected a grist mill and a small woolen mill. which was of great convenience to the pioneers.
COLONEL MACK'S FAMILY
Colonel Mack's family, consisting of wife and twelve children, had remained in Vermont on a farm until 1816 when they removed to Nor- wich, Vermont, in order to have better school facilities. A military college was located there where Almon Mack obtained a knowledge of military tactics, which made him quite a prominent officer in the militia of Michigan in after years. In 1822 the family came to Detroit and one of the daughters, Lovina, and an adopted orphan girl, Elvira Jamieson. came to Pontiac and kept house for the colonel. His son, Almon, also came about this time and took charge of his father's books and made himself generally useful about the mills and in time came to be the manager of the business.
Colonel Mack as early as 1820 had erected a large building which was used as a dwelling and an office, and was called the company's building. It stood nearly in front of the mill. This dwelling was oc- cupied by Colonel Mack's family in 1823 on their arrival from Detroit.
Colonel Stephen Mack died November 11, 1826, and was buried on his own land on the east side of the river and south of Pike street. Ile was afterward buried in Oak Hill cemetery on the crest of the hill that overlooks the land he was the first white man to possess.
Stephen Mack, Jr. (born 1798), located in Rockton, Illinois, where he opened a trading house for Indian goods. He afterward married ( 1828), the daughter of a Winnebago chief. Hle held various offices, among them that of county judge. His death took place in Rockton about 1849. John M., another son, settled in Hamtramck. ( Married April 8, 1827. Maria A. King. ) Ile also held various offices in the gift of the people.
Colonel Almon Mack (born April 28, 1805), married the orphan girl, Elvira Jamieson, in March, 1827. She was a woman of extraordinary mental and physical endowment and greatly beloved and respected by all who knew her.
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Of the daughters. Lovicy ( born September 13, 1795), married David Cooper, a wealthy merchant of Detroit. Her twin sister, Lavina, was the first white woman to die in Pontiac, September 2, 1823. Harriet married Reuben Hatch, who had been a lieutenant in the army. He died about 1827 while in charge of the lighthouse at Fort Gratiot. His widow afterward married Hon. Gideon O. Whittemore. Dr. George Drake is one of her descendants. Acseah died young.
Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, was a cousin of the Macks, and visited Oakland county several times previous to his removal to Illinois. Almira Mack, twin to Almon, joined the Mormons at an early day and followed their fortunes to Utah, where she was living in 1876. Mrs. Mack joined her daughter in 1846 and remained with her until her death, which occurred some ten years later. Ruth Mack married Buckland, and her twin Rhoda married Stanley.
In 1824. during Colonel Stephen Mack's residence in Pontiac he built a grist mill at Rochester. After the Colonel's death his sons, Almon and John MI., were appointed administrators of his estate, which was involved in the collapse of the Bank of Michigan. Colonel Mack was one of the bondsmen of James McCloskey, the cashier of the in- stitution who defaulted to a large amount, and being the only one who had available means, his entire estate, except a small dower to the widow, was absorbed in the settlement, and his heirs were virtually left pen- niless.
JOSEPHI TODD AND PARTY
Although it was through the agency of Stephen Mack that Pontiac was located and settled, yet the first actual settlers were Joseph Todd, his son-in-law, Orisson Allen and William Lester, and their families. Joseph Todd was born February II, 1765, at Warsaw, New York, and was a resident of that place when he enlisted for service in the Revolu- tion in April. 1781, serving ten months and twenty days as a private in Captain Peter Bertholft's company, Colonel Henry Wisner's regiment. His father also was Joseph Todd who was a second lieutenant in the same company.
In 18IS, at the time he applied for a pension, he was a resident of Palmyra, New York, and it was in November of the same year that he journeyed to Michigan, taking twenty-eight days to reach Detroit from Buffalo. They were driven back to Erie three times by bad winds. From Detroit they moved by wagons to Mt. Clemens and soon after Mr. Todd and his party set out on an exploring tour into what is now Oak- land county. It was now the middle of December and the snow lay ten or twelve inches deep. Each man carried a supply of provisions, a blanket and an axe. Two of them were armed with rifles.
The first night's encampment was where the village of Romeo after- ward grew up. They cleared away the snow and built a fire and then felled a hollow basswood tree, which they cut in seven foot lengths and split open. Each man took half a log, placed it by the fire and with his blanket snugly wrapped around him lay down in the hollow inside and had a good night's sleep. The next day they camped where Pontiac now is. They returned to Mt. Clemens convinced that Pontiac would
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be their future home, and began preparations for moving thither. They were three days making the journey with a team. At the time there were four houses on the road, at two of which they passed the night. They reached Pontiac the 19th of January, 1819, and occupied the one log house that the company had built, making a little community of fourteen persons. There were no chambers in the house, no chimney, and no floor, except some split logs where they laid their beds. Here they lived until April, when their own houses were ready for occupancy.
Mr. Todd was not well after coming to Michigan, and by July the whole party were sick, not one able to help the other. Dr. William Thompson was the only physician in the county and he lived eight miles from Pontiac. Fever and ague was, of course, the complaint. Affairs, however, grew brighter after a little and Mr. Todd lived to see the vil- lage a thriving one, even boasting of the advent of a railroad. Ile mar- ried first, Julia Johnson, who died February 10, 1843, aged seventy-four. He married. second, Patty Lee, September 21, 1843. Joseph Todd died at Bloomfield, Michigan, August 4, 1848, and is buried in Oak 1lill cemetery.
. Children : (I.) Elizabeth, b. Dec. 11, 1791 ; d. Nov. 5, 1846 in Bloom- field ; m11. Ist. Harding; in. 2d. Asa B. Hadsell.
( II.) Catherine, b. Aug. 1796; d. March 18, 1845, in Pontiac. m. Orisson Allen.
( III.) Julia, m. Ist, Todd; m. 2d. Joseph Voorheis.
(IV.) John, m. Polly Smith.
(V.) Joseph J., b. 1800; in. Chloe Matthews.
(\'l.) Jonathan.
(VII. ) Samuel, b. 1804; m. Dec. 31, 1839. Armena Irons.
ITHAMAR SMITH
Ithamar Eleazer (5), John (4), John (3), Philip (2), Lieut. Samuel (1) Smith, was born at Longmeadow, Massachusetts, January 13. 1756. He married January 26, 1780, Lucy Nevers of Springfield, and had by her thirteen children, seven of whom he buried in New England. She died September 25, 1843.
Mr. Smith in June, 1776, enlisted for six months as a private in Cap- tain Josiah Smith's company, Col. Whitney's regiment : also in April or May, 1777, as artificer for two years in Capt. Richard Faxon's company, Col. David Mason's regiment ; again, in 1779. he was in charge of the quartermaster's shop at Springfield. Massachusetts, under Col. William Smith. At the time of his enlistment he was a resident of Wilbraham, Hampshire county, Massachusetts. About the year 1806 he removed to Marcellus, Onondaga county, New York. September 14, 1832 he ap- plied for and received a pension while resident of this place. From there his wife and children and grandchildren, except his youngest son, Dr. George Smith and family of Syracuse, numbering twenty persons, came to Pontiac in the fall of 1835.
When they left Marcelluis they came to a place called Jordan on the Erie canal, where they chartered a boat for Buffalo. Some of the neigh- bors followed them to the canal to bid them farewell, for Michigan was
.
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then considered near the "jumping off place" and the good old minister preached a sermon before they started, from the text "They seek a coun- try." Arriving at Buffalo they took a steamboat for Detroit, and thence over a rough road to Pontiac. They all moved into the house known as the Benjamin Phelps house (now the Presbyterian parsonage) and re- mained there until they could look around and select a permanent home.
Mr. Smith bought the farm of Mr. Griffin, afterwards known as the George Wisner farm, which was managed by his son-in-law, Deacon Frost. He and his family were very regular in their attendance at church, going quite often with oxen for the first year or two. He was quite deaf and used to stand in the pulpit with the minister when he was over eighty years of age, no matter how long the sermon. In 1843 he sold his farm to George Wisner, taking in part payment a farm in West Bloomfield. About this time his wife was taken sick and died, aged eighty-four years. They had lived together sixty-three years. On the Ist of September, 1844, `while getting ready to go to meeting Mr. Smith fell and died in a few minutes.
Ithamar Smith was a blacksmith by trade and in 1874 there was still existing an account book he used from 1800 to 1812. While in the Revolutionary service lie had the pleasure of seeing and shaking by the hand his great commander, George Washington. On the 4th of July, 1838, at a celebration given by the citizens of Pontiac, Mr. Smith and Mr. Beach, another Revolutionary soldier living here, were given the posts of honor. He is buried in Oak Hill cemetery.
Children : (I.) Roderick, b. March 10, 1781.
(II.) Henry, b. April 19, 1782.
(III.) Henry, b. Feb. 17, 1784.
(IV.) Sally, b. March 5, 1786.
The foregoing all died in infancy.
(V.) Sarah, b. January 23, 1787, d. February 8, 1876 Pontiac, Mich. (VI.) Fanny, b. January 12, 1789, d. March 1858, Pontiac, Mich.
(VII.) John Morgan, b. Dec. 31, 1790; d. Oct. 26, 1864, Grand Rap- ids; m. January 8, 1811, Lydia Goodrich, b. January 3, 1794, d. March 25. 18SI, in Manistee, Mich., dau. Allen Goodrich.
(VIII.) Eleazer b. October 21, 1792; d. Nov. 23, 1797.
(IX.) Hannah Morgan, b. June 17, 1794; d. May 1, 1851, Pontiac, Mich. : m. Josiah Frost.
(X.) Louis Nevins, b. March 21, 1796; d. May 1796.
(XI.) George (Dr.) b. August 19, 1797; d. August 25, 1844, Syra- ctise, N. Y. ; m. Electa Ellis.
(XII.) Lucy, b. April 17, 1799; d. July 8, 1837. Pontiac, Mich. ; m. Weston Frost.
(XIII.) Eleazar, b. November 25, 1801 ; d. May 22, 1802.
WILLIAM NATHAN TERRY
William Nathan Terry made his declaration November 10, 1828, at which time he was sixty-eight years old. He enlisted for the war in March, 1774; was at the battle of Bunker Hill in June, 1775, as a meni- ber of Capt. Ransom's company of Pennsylvania troops, in Colonel But-
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ler's regiment. He served till October, 1782. While on a furlough he fought as a volunteer at the battle of Wyoming, and afterward returned to his corps and was engaged in the battle of Princeton. He came to Michigan in 1824, leaving property in Tioga county, New York, out of which he was partially swindled, and was too poor to prosecute his rights for its recovery. He settled on the Saginaw turnpike, two miles north- west of Pontiac, and lived to be about eighty years old. He died January 20, 1840, and is buried on the Charles Terry lot in Oak Ilill cemetery. His wife, Eleanor Lewis, died August 25, 1849, aged seventy-three years.
Children : (1.) Charles, d. July 3. 1854, aged fifty-two years; come- tery record.
(II.) Sarah Lee, b. October 27, 1806: d. June 13, 1899: m. July 5, 1827. Isaac Voorheis, b. March 11, 1806; d. July 12, 1892.
( IIJ. ) Ellen, m. Sept. 14. 1833, Matthew Stanley.
( IV.) William, m. Hannah Lusk.
(V.) Jacob.
(\T.) Joshua, m. Lucy Tining.
(VII. ) John. ( VIII. ) Merritt, m. Emily Lewis.
(IX.) Caleb. b. October 11. 1816, Palmyra, Wayne county, N. Y .; d. April 26, 1890, Lansing, Mich. ; m. 1840 Loraine Cole, b. February I, 1821, d. September 13, 1908, Port Huron, dau. of John and Elizabeth ( Skinner) Cole.
(X.) Polly. m. Elijah Kirkham.
(XI.) Barney.
JOSHUA CHAMBERLIN AND ENOCH HOTCHKISS
The fifth Revolutionary soldier's grave to be located and marked in Oak Hill cemetery, Pontiac, was that of Joshua Chamberlin. He enlisted April 3. 1777, at Richmond, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, serving as a private until April 3. 1780, in Captain Jeremiah Miller's company, Col. Vose's regiment of Massachusetts troops. He applied in 1818 for a pension, which was granted, he being a resident of Lewiston, Niagara county. New York. In 1820 he was a resident of Detroit and undoubt- edly came to Pontiac with his sons, Joshua, Jr., and Dr. Olmstead Cham- berlin, two years later. Dr. Chamberlin was one of the prominent busi- ness men of Pontiac a great many years. His father died February 20. 1827, aged sixty-seven years. Sarah, his wife, died at Gorham, New York, August 14. 1814, aged forty-nine.
Enoch Hotchkiss, who is buried in the orchard on the farm he orig- inally settled in 1819, is claimed to be a soldier of the Revolution.
ELIJAH DRAKE
The early life of Elijah Drake was spent in the neighborhood of the Delaware Water Gap, that now famous summer resort where the com- bination of mountain and river forms scenery unexcelled in beanty. Here he was born July 4, 1759. In the sparsely settled country embraced by Smithfield township. the settlers were protected from raids of hostile
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Indians by the garrison at Fort Penn. It was located on a large tract of land owned by Col. Stroud and commanded also by him. Lying adja- cent to this great property of Col. Stroud was the land of Samuel Drake, father of Elijah.
A company belonging to the Associates Battalion formed in Pennsyl- vania was organized in Smithfield May 22, 1775, of which Jacob Stroud was captain and Samuel Drake lieutenant. In 1776 Jacob Stroud was colonel and Samuel Drake captain (Vol. 14, second series of Pennsylvania Archives, page 555, 576).
In June, 1778, the records of the Bureau of Pensions state that Elijah Drake enlisted as a private and served six months under Capt. Benjamin Schoonhoven, Col. Stroud's Pennsylvania regiment ; reenlisted June 5, 1779, for three months under the same captain in Col. Armstrong's regi- ment Pennsylvania troops. After that a service of fifteen days is re- corded under Capt. Samnel Shoemaker and his place of residence is given as Lower Smithville, Northhampton county, Pennsylvania. The state records also show the service of his brother Thomas. This official record is meager enough, for in reality he gave four years of his life to the service of his country. The position of the family on the frontier of necessity demanded the protection of father and sons in the early days of the war and Elijah thus served three years before his official enlist- ment in 1778.
Like others of the valiant volunteers who first viewed the fertile valley of the Susquehanna in time of strife, he was resolved to make this locality his home some time in the future, and after serving as executor of his father's estate in 1789 he joined his sister Ruth, who had married Capt. Daniel MeDowel and settled at Chemung, fourteen miles below Newtown Point, or Elmira, as the place is now called.
Living in the beautiful valley of Wyoming at the time of the terrible massacre, was the family of Thomas and Abigail ( Culver ) Stoddard, settlers from Connecticut. They were warned of the approaching dan- ger by a friendly Indian, in time to escape with their children. Their daughter Abigail was at that time eight or nine years old and many times in the course of her long life of ninety years, she recited the thrilling experiences which were so indelibly stamped upon her memory. The youngest child of two years of age died of exposure and hardships en- countered in their long march in the wilderness.
Just where was their refuge we do not know, but presumably to the north. This much is fact- that Elijah Drake married Abigail Stoddard in the year 1790 at Newtown Point. Their home was in Chemung, as we find Elijah Drake elected overseer of highways at the fourth town meeting held 1791. The next year he is still a resident, as is proved by a release given by him to his brother Joseph, for his interest in a piece of land adjoining their home farm.
Ilis second daughter. Welthy, is said to have been born in Scipio. New York. If so, the change of residence must have taken place early in 1703. His father-in-law, Thomas Stoddard, went with him, and they settled on a farm in the town of Scipio, one and three-fourths miles east of the village of Aurora, lying on Cayuga lake. Here his eight sons were Vol. I-C
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born and here he lived until 1821 when he sold out and bought a farm two miles east of the village of Perry, Genesee county, New York, where he resided ten years.
Thomas J., the second son, had made his way to Pontiac, Michigan, in 1824, and became one of the most prominent men of the early history of Oakland county. His success and liking for the new country influ- enced the rest of the family to leave New York for the land of promise.
In 1835 Elijah Drake, with six of his sons, and their families em- barked from Buffalo on the old time steamer. "Thomas Jefferson." One son, Cyrus, with his family, settled in Huron county, Ohio, but the other five became pioneers of Michigan.
After tarrying a while in Oakland county, the old gentleman and his wife went to live with their sons who had settled near Ann Arbor. After a residence there of a few years, they removed with their son, Dr. Flemon Drake, in 1844, to Royal Oak, where they made their home the remain- ing years of their lives.
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