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 48
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The first Presbyterian church of Holly was organized in the school- house on Saginaw street, on July 7, 1850. with the following members: Mr. and Mrs. William Stiff; Clarissa Stiff; William Johnson Stiff; H. 11. Pahner and L.ney Pahner, his wife, and Thomas and Martha Hadley. The first pastor was Rev. George Winter. The Sunday-school was organized in January, 1862, with a membership of thirty. Their first superintendent was A. P. Waldo, and Mrs. Plum; Thomas, John, Mar- garet and William Hadley were the teachers. The church was built in 1861, and occupied for the first time on January 1, 1862. In 1877 the membership of the society was about one hundred and fifty. Follow- ing the ministry of Rev. George Winter, who served for one year, there have been the incumbents named hereafter: Rev. Thomas Wright. 1860-62; Rev. W. P. Wastell, 1862-65; Rev. George Winter. 1805-66:
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Rev. J. Sanford Smith, 1866-68; Rev. W. A. Cutler, 1869-70; Rev. Edward Dickinson, 1870-74; Rev. Joseph Swindt, 1874-1880; Rev. Ed- ward Harvey, 1880-1882; Rev. Richard HI. Hookin. 1882-1885; Rev. Charles A. Evans, 1886-1887; Rev. Thomas Fowler. 1887-89; Rev. Charles P. Bates, 1890-95; Rev. William S. Buck, 1895-1901; Rev. F. A. Kuder, 1901-04; Rev. D. S. Carmichael, 1905-07; Rev. James B. Warner, 1907-09. On May 1, 1910, Rev. Charles D. Ellis became pastor of the church, and is now occupying that position. Mr. Ellis is a worthy gentleman, educated and cultured, and in every way fitted for his posi- tion in life.
The church has a membership today of about one hundred and thirty members, and is in excellent condition, both spiritually and materially.
The First Baptist church of Holly was organized in 1839, at the Jones schoolhouse in the township of Rose. Its first pastor was Rev. Samuel Jobes. In 1858 the congregation removed to Holly and held services in the old schoolhouse on Saginaw street, under the leadership of Rev. H. Stowitts. In 1862 the present church was built, being at first somewhat smaller than it is now. It was enlarged to its present size in 1870, through the efforts of Rev. J. H. Morrison, then its pastor. .A Sunday-school was organized in May, 1862. with James E. Church as superintendent. Mr. Morrison was succeeded in the pastorate by Rev. A. A. Hopkins, who resigned in February. 1878, and the subsequent pastors of the church have been: Rev. C. VanDorn, supply, 1880; Rev. J. H. Morrison, closed his second pastorate in April, 1893: Rev. O. M. Thrasher, served from November, 1893, to September, 1806; Rev. W. G. Clark, 1896 to 1904; Rev. 1I. C. Tratert, November, 1904, to Septem- ber, 1906; Rev. E. M. Blanchard, May, 1907, to February, 1908 ( time of decease ) ; Rev. T. J. Wright, April, 1908, to April, 1909: Rev. G. T. Curtiss, May, 1909, to February. 1911; Rev. E. H. Harbridge, from February, IQII, to the present time. Mr. Harbridge is a retired Con- gregational minister, who began his service in the Baptist church with his Holly pastorate. The present membership of the church, including non-resident members, is about fifty.
SOCIETIES
Mother Hur Court, No. 17, of the Tribe of Ben Hur, was organized in Holly in May, 1887, with a membership of about fifty. The first officers were: Chief, E. 11. Lake ; past chief, Mrs. J. E. Benedict ; judge, Alice Smith ; scribe, C. E. Humphrey ; keeper of tribute, Elizabeth Pom- eroy ; teacher, Ida Joslin ; guide, J. R. Fraser ; captain, Lillian Melioken. The present membership of the lodge is about one hundred and fifty, with the following officers: Chief, Anna Burnham ; past chief, Emma Curtis; judge, Addie Bensett; keeper of tribute. Myrta E. Lakewood ; teacher, Olive Wheeler ; captain, Lyle Tuttle.
The lodge is in a thriving condition and is one of the live spots in the fraternal life of the village.
Subordinate Lodge No. 972, Independent Order of Foresters, was organized at Holly, on January 6, 1892, with the following officers : Court deputy, C. W. Mosher; chief ranger, Case J. Allen; past chief
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ranger, James C. Patterson; vice chief ranger, B. F. Jarrard; recording secretary. S. W. Van Sickle: financial secretary, Charles 11. Baird; treasurer, C. H. S. Poole. The present officers of the lodge are: Court deputy, B. F. Jarrard; chief ranger. William R. Smith; past chief ranger, Charles E. Smith; vice chief ranger, A. W. Curtis; recording secretary, II. A. Horton ; financial secretary, F. S. Beebe.
Subordinate Lodge No. 11, Knights of the Loyal Guard, was or- ganized at Holly, on March 25. 1895, with the following officers: Cap- tain general, James B. Starker; senior captain, William A. Hart; junior lieutenant, Perry Jacobs; junior captain. Charles Tharrett ; junior lien- tenant, William Il. Beardslee; recorder. Elmer J. Macomber. The present officers are : Captain general, James B. Starker ; senior captain. Charles Tinsman; junior lieutenant. James W. Clarke; junior captain. Charles \. Best ; junior lieutenant, James Reed; recorder, Caroline Calkins.
CHAPTER XXVIII
AVON TOWNSHIP
JAMES GRAHAM, ORIGINAL SETTLER-THE HERSEY-RUSSELL-GRAHAM COMBINE-MEMORIES OF THE OLD HERSEY MILL-MILL STONES FROM BOWLDERS-STONY CREEK VILLAGE-ROCHESTER PLATTED- PIONEERS OUTSIDE OF ROCHESTER-FIRST CORPORATION OFFICERS -- ROCHESTER INDUSTRIES-WESTERN KNITTING MILLS- CREAMERY AND FLOURING MILL-THE SCHOOLS-ROCHESTER UNION SCHOOL- WATERWORKS AND FIRE PROTECTION-ELECTRIC LIGHT AND POWER- ROCHESTER NEWSPAPERS-THE CHURCHES-ROCHESTER SOCIETIES- BIOLOGICAL FARM, PARKDALE-FERRY SEED FARM.
According to the original act dividing Oakland county into two town- ships, approved June 28, 1820, Bloomfield township embraced the southern two-fifths of its area and Oakland township the northern three- fifths; Avon, of the present, therefore was included in the old Oakland township, and so remained until the 6th of April, 1835. As the first settlement in the county was made within its present limits, it has gen- erally been considered a miscarriage of historic justice that it did not retain the name of Oakland itself.
JAMES GRAHAM, ORIGINAL SETTLER
These historic events are embalmed in the following statements : James Graham, the bona fide pioneer of the county and the township, was an Irishman who emigrated from his native country some years before the Revolutionary war and settled among the Pennsylvania Dutch. His neighbors are said to have pronounced his name as if spelt "Grimes," and at his death, or, at least, as his eulogy, Albert G. Greene, a Rhode Island literary man and scholar who spent the later years of his life in what was then the west, wrote:
"Old Grimes is dead, the good old man ; We ne'er shall see him more ; He used to wear an old blue coat All buttoned up before.'
James Graham raised a large family before he moved to Avon town- ship, having previously lived six years in Canada. His first location in
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Michigan was at Mount Clemens, Macomb county, which township his son, Benjamin, assisted to survey in 1816, under Colonel Wampler. On the 17th of March, 1817, which happened to be St. Patrick's day. the elder Graham, his son Alexander and Christopher Hartsough, with their families, arrived on the banks of Paint creek and proceeded to plant the seed which has grown into the flourishing village of Rochester. James Graham made a squatter's claim on the northwest quarter of section 21, a short distance southwest of the present site, but he had already thrown up a log shack at a point where it now stands. so that Rochester was founded for all practical purposes. The original Graham claim was the farm afterward located by Dr. William Thompson, and the sons.
Avox TOWNSHIP HALL
Benjamin and William, bought the southwest quarter of section 23 to the cast, to which the veteran and ex-soldier of the Revolution finally moved to spend his last days.
Alexander Graham settled on the east side of what afterward be- came Main street, in the house built by himself and father, where was born his eldest son. James, in 1818. The latter was the first white child born in the county. The proprietors of the village subsequently gave the lot on which James Graham was born to him while he was still a youngster, and he owned it until his decease.
Christopher Hartsough married one of the daughters of James Gra- ham, the elder, and after stopping a short time with his brother-in-law, Alexander, settled near Plymouth, Wayne county, where he died shortly after.
THE HERSEY-RUSSELL-GRAHAM COMBINE
The first entry of land in the county was made by John Hersey, on the 29th of October, 1818. his claim being the south half of section 10.
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which embraced the northwest quarter of the present village plat of Rochester. He paid $2 an acre for it, only the first quarter of the pur- chase money being made at the time of location. In the summer of 1819 Mr. Hersey sold his claim on the southwest quarter of section 10 (the tract not included in the present Rochester plat ) to Benjamin Wood- worth, a hotel keeper of Detroit, and William Russell, who had but recently located and built himself a log house. Mr. Woodworth never resided in Rochester, although he invested considerable money in its enterprises.
In the summer of 1819 Messrs. Hersey. Russell, Woodworth and Alexander Graham combined their skill and capital to build a sawmill in section 10, on the banks of Paint creek. This was the first of Roch- ester's industries. The first sawing was done in October of that year. and subsequently a single run of stone was added for gristing purposes. The stones were thirty inches in diameter, were taken out near Stony creek, and dressed by one of the Messinger family. The old Hersey mill, as it was long called, stood near the site of the Eureka mills, erected . in 1868 by Doctors Jesse and Jeremiah Wilson.
MEMORIES OF THE OLD HERSEY MILL
Fifty-five years after the building of the Hersey mill, Christian Z. Horton, one of the first settlers of the township, tells the story of the good uses to which his fellows put the big boulders of Stony creek and vicinity, in the following :
"Over fifty years have passed away since the first sawmill in Oak- land county was built by Mr. John Hersey, in the town of Avon, on Paint creek. a few rods west of the mill of the Wilson Brothers. It stood on a line parallel with Walnut street, perhaps a little west. In this mill was placed a run of stone, manufactured by one MIr. Wood, a blacksmith by trade, out of our common boulders, which abound in this section. By the use of these stones Mr. Hersey ground the grain raised by the farmers in this vicinity, and what flour was made was bolted by a hand-bolt, also in the mill. No other mill was nearer than a few miles this side of Mt. Clemens, on the north branch of the Clinton, some twenty miles distant, owned by Mr. Tremble (pronounced Trom- bley), which was built some time in 1818 or 1820, or thereabouts. One of the persons who assisted in working Mr. Tremble's mill, lived in this village in 1842, named Joshua Sly.
"I will here relate an incident which was currently reported amongst the early settlers of this part of Michigan in regard to this mill, before there was any other mills in the territory, except windmills and a mill in Detroit worked by oxen. The incident was this: John and William Graham had occasion to take a large grist of wheat to be ground and bags sufficient for the bran, and on the way they agreed to a course of action in order to ascertain the means by which such large grists should shrink so much by grinding, and especially a good sample of wheat. which enigma had for a long time been circulating through the coun- try unsolved. They drove to the mill. the grist was received but could not be ground till late in the night. William had taken a good supply Vol. 1-26
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of buffalo robes and blankets, and resolved to sleep in the mill-mak- ing his bed near the hopper. Mr. Tremble wanted them to go to Mt. Clemens for a gallon of whiskey. John, however, went while William slept-one eye open. Mr. Tremble took the required toll. After John returned, and the night rolled along-the mill ground slowly-the grist needed another tolling, which was done; whereupon William arose from his slumbers, replaced the last tolling and as much more. An hour or so passed and a third tolling was done. The result was that William arose again, replacing as before. Still the grist lingered, and another resort of tolling was had, with the same result; and another until all the wheat that William could find in the mill was dumped into the hop- per. Then when the grinding was done, they (the Grahams) had not bags enough to hold the flour, so they left the balance and the bran to be taken at another time, which time has never come.
MILL STONES FROM BOULDERS
"My object in writing this sketch is more particularly to bring to notice the use some of the boulders that have been promiscuously strewn over this country were put to in an early day by the pioneers, and by whom. I cannot give the precise date when Mr. John Shippy, then a young man ( since deceased), commenced manufacturing mill stones from boulders, but think it was in 1824 or 1825. His first set was for the late Mr. Nathaniel Millard of Stony Creek. The next set was for Mr. H. Lathrop, which were put in the old mill, the frame of which composes the upright of Barns and Brothers' paper mill. An incident in the manufacture of this set of stones is worthy of notice: Mr. Lathrop's hand, employed to assist Mr. Shippy on the stone, had left and by request of Mr. Lathrop, Mr. Shippy employed his younger brother, Mr. Smith Shippy, to assist him. He worked for him two days, when, in using the hammer, his fingers became so cramped that it was with difficulty he could unclasp them from the handle, besides being fearfully swollen. Mr. Lathrop paid him the sum of two dollars for his work-a bill on the bank of Ypsilanti-it being the first money he ever received for work. He was very choice of it, intending to buy a sheep with it. So laying it one side until a chance offered. some three weeks passed, when he was told the bank had broken.
"Mr. Shippy manufactured a set of stones for Mr. Lyman J. Wilcox, which did good service. After Mr. Wilcox built his new mill he sold the set to parties in Lapeer county. It is supposed that Mr. Shippy made a set for Mr. James A. Henry also. He also went to Grand Rapids and manufactured one or two sets there. The set of stones was taken from the mill of Mr. John Hersey to the Saginaw valley by Mr. Williams, and what has become of the others I am unable to tell. hoping, however, they are doing good service for the inhabitants of the country."
STONY CREEK VILLAGE
The little settlement of Stony Creek, about half a mile northeast of Rochester, had its origin in the locations and labors of the Taylors.
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Lemuel Taylor, a Baptist exhorter in broken health, with his five sons, purchased a tract of two hundred acres. The land, which was divided by the father among his sons, included a mill privilege, and in 1824 Nathaniel Millerd, a son-in-law, joined the Taylors in the improvement of the property. They built a sawmill and a gristmill of the usual crude construction and furnishings, but as the elder Taylor died in August, 1827, he did not live to see the projects of himself and family greatly prosper.
Lemuel Taylor was a chairmaker and a wheelwright by trade, and very soon after coming to Stony Creek built a shop where he made these articles, thus combining practical with religious affairs.
In 1824 Elisha Taylor, one of the sons, opened a blacksmith shop, and Mr. Millerd (afterward Judge) exposed a small general stock of goods for sale at his log residence. Soon after, a more pretentious store was established by Elkanah Comstock, who had erected a small building for the special purpose.
A postoffice was established at Stony Creek the year following the coming of the Taylors and Mr. Millerd was appointed postmaster. The latter continued to reside there until his death, and was locally honored in every way.
In the spring of 1824 the Ilerseys, Rochester promoters, moved to the vicinity of Stony Creek, John Hersey and Burton Allen building a dam and sawmill some distance up that stream. This was shortly after the Taylor-Millerd mill was erected. Mr. Hersey died in March, 1856, his son, James A., afterward becoming a resident of Oakland township.
Stony Creek was laid out as a village in October, 1830, by Nathaniel Millerd, and Elisha and Joshua Taylor, sons of Lemuel. Mr. Millerd made an addition in 1842, and in 1847 completed a gristmill. In 1867 the plant was remodeled by Johnson Matteson into a woolen mill which was active for some years. But Stony Creek did not fulfill its early promise, or the expectations of its founders.
ROCHESTER PLATTED ( 1820)
The founding of Rochester has already been narrated. In 1826 Governor Cass, Austin E. Wing and Charles Larned, of Detroit, laid out the original plat of the village. Nine small houses then formed the settlement. Previous to that year few settlers had arrived ; besides those already mentioned. John Shippy, the Jacksons and a Mr. IIill, on the Clinton river. In 1823-24 the flouring mill was built on the Clin- ton by Perrin & Mack and David Dort was the resident miller.
Seneca Newberry, Rochester's first merchant, came to the village in 1827, being a cousin of the widely known Oliver Newberry of De- troit. He continued to do business in the village for many years, and died therein May 13, 1877, at the age of seventy-five.
William Burbank came to Rochester in 1828 and, with his family, was one of the original members of the Congregational church.
In September, 1830, Almon Mack, son of Colonel Stephen Mack, founder of Pontiac, settled in Rochester, and opened the second store in the village. He went to the legislature afterward and was esteemed
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during his subsequent life one of the good and able men of the village and the county. The post office at Rochester was first established in 1829, with George N. Shaw as postmaster. The mail was first brought in on horseback, and afterward by stage, from Royal Oak.
The first hotel was opened in 1828 by John M. Mack in the house built by Mr. Shaw in the previous year.
PIONEERS OUTSIDE OF ROCHESTER
A number of prominent citizens of the township settled outside of both Rochester and Stony Creek, some of them moving to the former when it was evident that it was going to be quite a place. About 1819 George Postal, Sr., came from Ontario county. New York, with his wife and seven children, and took a claim on section 20, along the Clin- ton river. There, in 1825, he erected a sawmill, and a number of years afterward his son. Charles. built and operated a gristmill.
In the spring of 1819 Dr. William Thompson located on section 8, west of Rochester, but finally settled on section 21, to the south ( the old Graham "squatter's" claim, of 1817). In 1820 Doctor Thompson built the first frame barn in the township.
Daniel LeRoy had settled in the spring of 1819, but Levi did not arrive until considerably later.
Roger Sprague, who was a man of middle age and an "Honorable" when he moved his family from New York to section 27. about two miles south of Rochester. Ile died in July. 1848. sincerely and gen- erally mourned.
Others might be mentioned ; but these are certainly representative. and lack of space is the excuse for omitting a more extended list.
FIRST CORPORATION OFFICERS
The village of Rochester remained under the general government of the township of Avon until April 12, 1869, when the following officers were elected of the new corporation: President, Jesse E. Wilson ; trus- tees John II. Hutaf, William Newell, Daniel L. Jennings and George W. Vandeventer: clerk, Marsden C. Burch: assessor. William 1. Weir : treasurer, Hugh D. Bitters; marshal, Herman Bennett. Mr. Burch was also appointed city attorney.
On the Ist of February, 1847. Hosea S. Richardson and Isaac Adams platted an addition east of the original, and subsequently Lysander Woodward surveyed an addition on the southwest quarter of section 11 (northwest quarter of the present village plat ). Following is a good description of this early Rochester: "The original plat is most eligibly and beautifully located on a high plateau between the Clinton river on the south and Paint creek on the north, the latter also winding its sinuous way along the eastern side of the plat. The bluff sides of the plat on the south show the former channel of Paint creek as in the glacial days its much heavier floods undoubtedly cut its channel through the moraine, seeking its present level. In this wearing-away process it has left two or more conical mounds which, at first appearance. might
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VIEW ON MAIN STREET
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
seem to be the handiwork of man, but upon closer inspection the archi- tect stands revealed in the apparently modest creek that winds along their base. The bluffs on the north and east side of the creek and along the Clinton add picturesqueness to the otherwise beautiful prospect." The site of Rochester, it should be added. is not only beautiful but healthful.
During the past ten years three subdivisions at the north, south and west have been added to Rochester and hundreds of people now oc- enpy fine houses both in the outskirts of the village and elsewhere in the township where, a comparatively short time ago, the land was de- voted to farming.
ROCHESTER INDUSTRIES
The industries of the village were founded in the Hersey-Graham mill in 1819: the flouring mill built by Colonel Mack on the Clinton river in 1823-24 (remodeled in 1868 for the Barnes Brothers' paper mill) : the wagon and blacksmith shop of George M. Shaw and the distillery of Griggs & Taylor, on Paint creek, which went into operation in 1826; the Norton sawmill on the Clinton, in operation from 1825 to 1837: Johnson Niles' flouring mills, built in 1837. and transformed into the Rochester Woolen Mills in 1869; the foundry of D. L. Jennings. established in 1859, and the "Eureka mills," crected in 1868 on the site of the old Willcox distillery.
The Detroit & Bay City Railroad reached Rochester in October. 1872. That line is now a part of the Michigan Central, and its com- pletion was the commencement of the brisk and growing Rochester of the present. Its business. manufactures and passenger travel have now complete outlets through the Michigan Central and Grank Trunk sys- tems, and the Detroit United Railway.
THE WESTERN KNITTING MILLS
One of the leading industries of Oakland county and the chief manu- factory of Rochester is represented by the Western Knitting Mills. manufacturers of men's goods, exclusively. The concern was estab- lished in 1891 by C. S. Chapman, and while it was operated at first on a small scale. the business under his management expanded gradually and continually until it assumed its present large proportions. Be- tween two hundred and three hundred machines are in constant opera- tion, and the annual output of the factory reaches the quarter million mark. Lumbermen's socks, men's half hose, gloves and mittens are the products of the factory, and their line is known to the trade through- out the United States.
Mr. C. S. Chapman, who founded the business in 1891, was a New Englander by birth, born in Proctorsville, Vermont, in 1864. At the age of sixteen he began his acquaintance with business life as a clerk in a clothing store at Ludlow, Vermont, and later was in the employ of the well known firm. Jordan, Marsh & Company, wholesale dry- goods dealers in Boston, Massachusetts. When his parents removed to Michigan, Mr. Chapman accompanied them, and in Detroit was en-
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gaged with Edson, Moore & Company, remaining in their service for ten years. His natural resourcefulness and latent ambition prompted him to make a venture in the manufacturing business, with the result already set forth. Mr. Chapman was president of the company until his death, which took place on May 5, 1912. He was succeeded in the presidency by Mr. W. H. Yankey. C. D. Joslyn is vice president and William C. Chapman, son of Charles S. Chapman, is treasurer and gen- eral manager of the firm. The concern was originally known as the Western Knitting Company.
CREAMERY AND FLOURING MILL
The Rochester Creamery Company was opened for business on Sep- tember 30, 1909, and is a cooperative affair, with officers and directorate as follows: Henry Rewold, president and manager ; William A. George. secretary ; H. J. Taylor, treasurer: George Switzer, John Tienken, Gust Snitcher and Oliver Patterson, directors. The creamery has been op- erated at a profit since its opening, and is one of the solid institutions of the county. The output for 1911 was as follows: Total pounds of butter fat, 63,654; total pounds of butter, 78,027. Overrun, 14.370 pounds.
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