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 51
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GOVERNOR CASS "SEES FOR HIMSELF"
Among those who refused to believe the report of the early sur- veyors that all this part of the country was a morass or a wilderness was Governor Lewis Cass, and soon after the road was surveyed he
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decided to "see for himself." He therefore set out from Detroit, ac- companied by two or three friends, including Hon. Austin E. Wing. For some miles out of that city, as they journeyed toward the north- west, their horses wallowed through marshes and bogs, but as they ap- proached what is now Oakland county they commenced to get upon higher ground, and finally encamped upon an open space under a large oak tree. This had already been marked with the "H" by the govern- ment surveyors. It was this little party, headed by the governor, which christened the beautiful and stately natural landmark as the Royal Oak, after its historic prototype in Scotland. To be specific, the old oak stood on the southeast corner of the northeast quarter of section 16, a few rods northwest of the junction of the Crooks, the Niles and the Paint Creek roads, not far north of the present limits of the village of ·Royal Oak.
From the Royal Oak the governor and his companions continued toward the west and the north, and in the course of their trip of about a week named Wing lake, Bloomfield township, in honor of Austin E. Wing of the party; Cass lake, to the northwest, in what is now West Bloomfield; and Elizabeth lake, just north of the latter, after the gov- ernor's wife; but, better than all, they carried back to Detroit the truth about the charming and fertile country through which they had passed.
SETTLERS OF 1822-1826
L. Luther and D. McKinstry made the first entries in Royal Oak township on the 6th of July, 1820, selecting section 33, just over the present southern line, for their claims. The first settlements were made on the same section by a Mr. White, a shoemaker, and Henry Stephens, who became prominent in later years, both coming in 1822. In that year Thomas Flinn also settled, directly on the "base line," south of Mr. White ; he also purchased some lands in Wayne county, so that he could jump either way according to developments. He afterward chose Wayne, but finally drifted to the village of Birmingham, where he died in 1842.
Erastus Ferguson, from Oneida county, New York, also came in 1822, and made a settlement on the southeast quarter of section 9. He is said to have been the first man in the county to drive a team of horses through to Saginaw, being employed for that purpose by Doctor Little who accompanied him, and they were compelled to cut their way as they proceeded.
Henry O. Bronson settled, in the fall of the year, less than a mile north of the present village, bringing his family with him and build- ing a log house for their accommodation. He also opened a tavern, the first in the township, which grew in favor as long as it existed, or until 1828.
In 1823, Sherman Baldwin settled on the northwest corner of section 6, in the extreme northwest of the township; Josiah Goddard on section 16; and Diodate Hubbard also on section 6, a young man who had been in the employ of Mack, Conant & Sibley, of Pontiac, and was widely
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acquainted in the county, in his later years becoming quite a prominent politician.
In the spring of 1824 James Lockwood occupied the land adjoining the village of Royal Oak (as now known) which he had entered in 1821, and built upon it a large double house of hewn logs which he opened as a hotel. Within a few weeks of Mr. Lockwood's arrival the Noyes brothers, Benjamin and Abraham, located on the southwest quarter of section 9. They were bachelors. Others soon became resi- cents of the township. Cromwell Goodwin, the first bricklayer, settled on the southwest quarter of section 4. in the northern part of the town- ship: his daughter Harriet died soon after, hers being the first death. David Williams, who settled on section 3. became the father of five sons, several of whom made records of some interest. George developing into quite an Indian fighter on the frontier. Joseph Chase ( Uncle Joe Chase ) arrived late in 1824 from New York, settling on the northwest corner of section 9; that locality became known, at a later day, as Chase's Corners. Sections 5 and 8, in the northwestern part of the township, had the honor of receiving, as settlers of 1825, the first car- penters-Jarvis Phelps and Erastus Burt.
James G. Johnson, John K. Keyes, Dennis H. Quick and Abraham S. Hoagland came in 1825, the first named settling on section 4, and in 1832 building on a little creek of Red run the only water mill ever put in operation in the township.
Among the settlers of 1826 were William Worth and Daniel Bur- rows on sections to and 15, the latter's tract covering the area of the cemetery. Orson Starr, who purchased lands, in that year, on sections 9 and 10, came to have a national reputation as a manufacturer of cow bells : their tinkle and fame even penetrated to the Pacific coast. And the list of these earliest of the pioneers of Royal Oak township may as well be closed with Orson Starr as with some less interesting char- acter.
TOWNSHIP ORGANIZED
The two townships numbered 1 and 2 north, range II east ( Royal Oak and Troy) were on the 12th of April, 1827, set off together, erected into a township and designated as Troy. This organization continued for five years, at the end of which time town i of that range was de- tached from Troy and separately erected as the township of Royal Oak. The first supervisor was David Chase and the first clerk. Socrates Hopkins.
ROYAL OAK VILLAGE
The original plat of Royal Oak village was laid out in the year 1836 by Sherman Stevens, who had purchased the land of Joseph Parshall. the plat covering about eighty acres in the northeast quarter of section 21 and forty acres of the northwest quarter of section 22. No addition was made to the original plat until 1875 when one was surveyed and laid out by J. A. Phelps, covering about forty-four acres and adjoining the Stevens plat on the north. Colloquially, this was called the north-
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ern extension, but was recorded as J. A. Phelps' addition to the village of Royal Oak.
The village plat was laid out by Stevens, in anticipation of the com- pletion of the Detroit & Pacific Railroad ( afterward the Detroit & Mil- waukee ) and at the time when the plat was surveyed, virtually the only buildings which stood there were the old blockhouse which had been kept by Lockwood, and also by Talbot as a tavern, and the frame barn belonging thereto.
BUSINESS HOUSES
The first business enterprises inaugurated in the village were the building of a sawmill by the railroad company, in 1836, and the erection of a hotel by Daniel Hunter in the same year. While engaged in its construction Mr. Hunter lived with his family in the old Lockwood- Talbot blockhouse. The hotel was completed and opened by him in the spring of 1837 as a tavern and boarding house for the men employed at the mill and on the railroad construction. Mr. Hunter remained in this house for two years. The next hotel at the village was built in 1839 by James B. Simonson. It was called the Railroad Exchange, and the first of its landlords was a Mr. Balch. During the time when this was the railway terminus, and in the succeeding years when the stages for Rochester and points beyond made their connection there, these Royal Oak village hotels drove a prosperous business, but stich is not the case in these later years. The palmy days of the railway-terminus and stage coach connection have passed away and will never return to Royal Oak.
The village cannot boast the establishment of the first mercantile business of the township, nor the first postoffice at Royal Oak. Both these were first located at Chase's Corners, in the year 1826, the first postmaster being Joseph Chase, who held the position for twelve years. when the opening of the railroad made it necessary that the office should be located at the new village, the existence of which had never even been dreamed of when Uncle Joe Chase received his appointment.
The first to become established in the merchandise business in the village was the firm of Simonson & Fish, the latter being the agent of the railroad company, and the senior member of the firm being John B. Simonson, who had previously opened a store on the Pontiac road, about half a mile south of the village, this being the second store in the township. On removing to the village in the spring of 1838, and enter- ing into partnership with Fish, they opened up for business at the rail- road depot with a very extensive stock of goods, which for many years after took place as the largest and best stock ever brought into the vil- lage. In the same season, shortly after they opened for business, thie railroad was extended from Detroit, and ran by horse power for some time as far as Royal Oak village, that place thereupon becoming at once of considerable importance.
In 1877 the village of Royal Oak contained the buildings of the railroad company, a steam sawmill, three blacksmith shops, one hotel, three general stores, one millinery store, two drug stores, two physicians, four churches, the town hall and the handsome schoolhouse of district No. 6. There was also a newspaper, a very small one, published by
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Rev. George W. Owen. It was called the Royal Oak Experiment. and it proved to be of the nature indicated in its title. Local journalism is now represented by the Tribune, founded in 1902.
The town hall. still standing at the northwest corner of Main and Fourth streets, was built in the year 1870 and accepted by the town on the roth of September of that year. "The price paid to the contractor, one B. M. Knowles, was sixteen hundred and sixty-four dollars. It was then a creditable public building.
CORPORATION RECORD
Royal Oak village was incorporated by a special act of legislature of 1801, approved on March 18th of that year. The following is a list of village officers since and including the election of March 30, 1891 : President, John Scott ; clerk, Charles F. Quick ; treasurer, Samuel J. Wilson ; street commissioner, Franklin Alford; trustees for two years. Reuben Russell, Louis Storz, and Charles G. Merrill; trustees for one year, Charles A. Allen, Richard J. Kenny and Henry Murray ; assessor, Linus D. Finn ; constable, Lewis II. McDowell.
Election, March 14. 1892: President, Charles A. Allen : clerk. Charles F. Onick; treasurer, Andrew C. Campbell; assessor, Joseph Conrad : trustees, Robert Rolfe, Julius Brown and Frank 1 .. Knowles; street commissioner. Franklin Alford; constable, Lewis Il. McDowell.
Election, March 14. 1893: President, Charles A. Allen ; clerk, Her- man Bartles; treasurer. A. C. Campbell: assessor, George Pan; trus- tees, Louis Storz, Jacob Erb and William Hilzinger ; street commissioner, Ed. Granger ; constable, Richard Rose.
Election, March 12, 1804; President. A. C. Campbell ; clerk. Her- man Bartles ; treasurer, Charles F. Quick ; assessor, Frank Leach ; street commissioner, Samuel Alger ; trustees, Frank L. Knowles, Julius Brown and A. W. Wilson ; constable, Richard Rose.
Election, March 11, 1895: President, A. C. Campbell ; clerk, Charles .A. Alger : treasurer, Charles F. Quick: assessor, Ira Barnum; trustees, Louis Storz. Jacob Erb and Edwin A. Kidder : constable, Ernest Reibel.
Election, March 12. 1896: President, A. C. Campbell ; clerk, C. . 1. Alger ; treasurer, William Rolfe; trustees, George B. Hammond. A. W. Wilson and Herman Bartles ; assessor, Ira Barnum.
Election, March 8. 1897: President, Frank L. Knowles; clerk, F. H. McDowell; treasurer, Frank Leach ; trustees, Henry Lavery, Jacob Lawson and Louis Storz: assessor. Julius Brown.
Election, March, 1808: President, Frank L. Knowles: clerk, John Bam: treasurer. Frank Leach: assessor. A. C. Campbell; trustees for two years. . A. W. Wilson, George B. Hammond and John F. Tillotson ; for one year. N. B. Hickey.
Election, March, 1890: President, Charles A. Allen; clerk, John Baum; treasurer. Henry Lavery; assessor. A. C. Campbell: trustees. Louis Storz, Frank Leach and G. A. Dewey.
Election, March, 1900: President, Charles A. Allen: clerk. Josiah Heavener : treasurer, H. N. Lavery; assessor. A. C. Campbell; trus- tees. Albert Hapert, Gustavus Dondero and George B. Hammond.
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Election, March, 1901: President. Frank L. Knowles; clerk, Josiah Heavener; treasurer, Jacob M. Lawson: assessor, Henry N. Lavery ; trustees for two years, Peter Serenson and Fred Lutz.
Election, March, 1902: President, Frank L. Knowles; clerk, Josiah Heavener; treasurer, Jacob M. Lawson: assessor, Henry N. Lavery ; trustees for two years, Gustavus Dondero, George B. Hammond and Theodore Radka.
Election, March, 1903: President, Frank L. Knowles; clerk. J. Heavener ; treasurer, C. C. Alger ; trustees, A. W. Wilson, A. C. Camp- bell and A. D. Kidder.
Election, March, 1904: President, Frank L. Knowles; clerk, John Baum; treasurer, Frank Leach; assessor, Julius Braun; trustees for two years, Peter Serenson, G. B. Hammond and A. D. Kidder ; for one year. C. G. Merrill.
Election, March, 1905: President, Albert W. Wilson; clerk, George A. Dondero; treasurer, William Beltz; trustees for two years, Edward Roy : Louis Storz and Reuben A. Russell; for one year, Joseph Stauch ; assessor, Julius Braun.
Election, March, 1906: President, Joseph Burgess; clerk, George A. Dondero: treasurer, William Beltz; assessor, H. N. Lavery ; trus- tees, Joseph Stauch, Frank Richards and John McClellan.
Election, March, 1907: President, Charles A. Allen; clerk, L. J. Levamseler; treasurer, Thomas Alger; trustees for two years. Louis Storz, Harry S. Gardner and Silas Brazington; for one year, William Ililzinger ; assessor, H. N. Lavery.
Election, March, 1908: President. Charles A. Allen : clerk, L. J. Levamseler : treasurer, Thomas Alger ; assessor. Louis Storz, Jr .; trus- tees for two years, Martin Severson, Charles A. Crane and Joseph Stauch.
Election, March, 1909: President, John A. Merritt; clerk, John C. Mow; treasurer, John Landau; trustees for two years, Fred Lyons, Louis Storz and A. W. Wilson.
Election. March, 1910: President, John A. Merrill; clerk. John C. Mow; treasurer, John Landau; trustees for two years, Martin Sever- son, IJarry F. Smith and C. A. Alger ; assessor, William IJilzinger.
Election, March, 1911: President, A. D. Kidder ; clerk, J. C. Mow ; treasurer, J. F. Codling : assessor. MI. R. Blair ; trustees for two years, Earl S. McEwen, William Wheeler and L. J. Levamseler.
Election, March. 1912: President. John C. Mow; clerk, Harry R. Brace; treasurer, J. F. Codling : assessor, William Penny ; trustees for one year, Harry F. Smith, William Sullivan and Robert McClure.
Royal Oak has no police force, but has one village marshal, Alex- ander Lewless, who is also deputy sheriff. Protection against fire con- sists of one thirty gallon conical tank mounted on a truck and drawn by hand on sidewalk ; one truck, with five or six good extension ladders ; twenty-four fire buckets, five axes and three hand chemicals.
Royal Oak is well supplied both with water and electric light. An abundant supply of water is obtained from wells sunk from eight to twelve feet below the surface, the sandy soil being a natural and sani- tary filter. The electric light is furnished by the Edison Company of
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Detroit, through the local power house, at the same rates as prevail in the former place.
Although the village has a fair local and country trade, it is, pri- marily, a residence community, several citizens of Pontiac making it their home. The largest business establishments are the lumber and coal yards conducted by J. M. Lawson and the Mellen-Wright Lumber Company, the latter also conducting a large store which makes a spe- ciality of hardware and painters' and builders' supplies.
ROYAL OAK SCHOOLS
The first school in the village was taught in the old log house built by Josiah Goddard on the west side of the old Crooks road in section 16, and soon thereafter abandoned, after which it was used for a school
UNION SCHOOL, ROYAL OAK
and as a meeting place for all religious denominations lacking a better house. The next school was a frame building, but a few rods from the site of the old one, in district No. 1. Later one was built at Chase's Corners, and others followed in other parts of the township.
At that time schoolhouses were built and schools taught in them under the simple old plan, no different in Royal Oak than in other parts of the country-that is, the universal method of raising the house by a cooperation of labor on the part of the male inhabitants of the vil- lage, and afterwards a subscription per capita of pupils to raise the fif- teen dollars per month required as the remuneration of a superior teacher for the winter term. Many are the tales, both ludicrous and pathetic, told by scattering pioneer settlers, still surviving, concerning their experiences on the slab or puncheon seats of those rude temples of learning, but all look back with a feeling akin to regret to the days and scenes they can never see again.
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In 1877 the township had eight good and comfortable frame school- houses and nine schools in district No. 6, which embraced the village of Royal Oak, two schools, a primary and a grammar school, all causing a total annual expenditure of $2,950. No. 6 was by far the largest of the districts, having an average attendance of about 100 pupils and in this district was the best of the school buildings. District No. 9 also had an exceptionally good school building, built in place of one destroyed by fire in 1873.
At this writing (July, 1912) the average attendance at the union school is 415. the high school embracing 65 pupils. Fourteen teachers are employed. The curriculum is fully up to the modern standard, music and drawing being included in the special branches. In 1902 was erected the substantial brick schoolhouse now occupied. The expansion of school population made a two-room addition necessary in 1907-8, and the overflow has also forced the erection of a small building on the grounds (comprising about five acres). The estimated value of build- ings and grounds is about $25.000. E. J. Lederley is superintendent of the school.
ROYAL OAK CHURCHES
Royal Oak village supports churches of the Methodist, Baptist, Con- gregational, Catholic and German Lutheran sects. The first organiza- tion of the Methodists took place a short time before that of the Bap- tists in 1838. Their first meetings were held in the old schoolhouse near the south end of the village. Among the first of their settled pas- tors was Rev. J. M. Arnold, and their first house of worship was com- pleted in 1843. The society now numbers about 200 members and the church building in which it worships was erected in 1894. In 1911 repairs upon the church and parsonage were made at a cost of some $2,400. Since 1876, or within the past thirty-six years, the following have served the Royal Oak Methodist church as pastors: G. W. Owen, S. E. Warren, L. H. Dean, 1I. N. Brown, Eugene Yager, T. C. Hig- gins, B. B. Rogers, D. M. Ward, W. H. Benton, Appleton Smith, A. Wood, W. J. Clark, F. D. Ling, James Jackson, H. S. Shaw, Attree Smith, O. W. Willits and H. H. Hough ( present incumbent ).
The Baptist church of Royal Oak was organized under the charge of Elder Stephen Goodman, of Troy, in January, 1839, the original members being Henry Stephens and wife, William Bettes and wife, Dr. I. C. Rose and wife, Chester Morgan and wife and Amelia Nichols. For some time previous to the organization these and a few other devout ones had been accustomed to meet in the schoolhouses and sometimes at dwellings, and there to hold religious worship under the preaching of Elders Goodman, Buttolph, Keys, and such other preachers as from time to time chanced to come among them. Mr. Goodman continued to labor among them for several years. After him came Rev. Avery Dennison and Rev. Samuel Jones of Grand Blanc. Then Mr. Goodman returned and he was followed by the second pastorate of Mr. Dennison. Other preachers who came later were Revs. Isaiah Fay, James Ward and (). E. Clark; Henry Pearsall, Chenowith and Silas Finn, the last named coming to the service of the church in 1871. The first church edifice Vol I-28
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was commenced immediately after the organization upon lots donated by Sherman Stephens, at the corner of Third and Main streets in Royal Oak village. It was built by Henry Stephens, as contractor, and he also contributed most liberally towards the cost of the building, of which the total was about $700. It was dedicated in August, 1839. Thirty-six years later a new and larger church building having been decided upon. the old one of 1839 was sold to the German Lutherans, and the new edi- fice, the present Baptist house of worship, was erected on the west side of the main street, at the north end of the village. For a time after the sale of the old church the congregation, by an arrangement with the pur- chasers, continued to use it as their place of meeting, until their own building was roofed in and they were able to occupy its basement for that purpose. The church was dedicated in August, 1876. It was in the form of a Greek cross, seventy feet in extent either way, and in its erection, Rev. Silas Finn, the pastor, individually bore a very heavy part- fully one-half-of the financial burden, which was by no means insig- nificent, the whole cost being about $4,000. In connection with the church is the Sabbath school, which was organized many years ago dur- ing the pastorate of Mr. Pearsall, who was the first superintendent. The church has had a rather checkered career. In the fall of 1907 it was rededicated and again opened for divine services, after having been unoccupied for many years. Rev. F. L. Swartout, who is the present pastor, commenced his term of service in October, 1911.
The Congregational church was first organized in Royal Oak on the 13th day of August, 1842, by Rev. Ebenezer McDowell, the organiza- tion taking effect in the Baptist church in the village. Five people com- prised the original membership, namely: Mr. and Mrs. Peter Merritt, Mr. and Mrs. Levi Tootill and George Scongel. There were several additions to that number very soon from the Presbyterian church at Bir- mingham, among these being Ezra Blackman, Lyman Blackman and Joseph Quick. For a year and a half Mr. McDowell remained with the church and he was succeeded by Rev. Charles Fairchild, whose ministry covered a period of three years with them, and Rev. Steele followed him. During Mr. Steele's ministry there occurred one of the most notable re- vivals in the subsequent history of the church, which brought large num- bers into the new church. Of other ministers who guided the church. further mention will be made later. Various localities have represented the meeting places of this church in the years of its life. It first wor- shiped in the Baptist church, where it was organized, and early in 1843 the society moved to the Methodist church, just completed, in which it continued to worship until it had erected a suitable building of its own. The members secured the use of the Methodist church on the provision that they hire their pews within it as if they were members of that church.
The first church buikling owned by the Congregationalists was built during the pastorate of Rev. James Nall, and the lots on which it was erected were donated by Mrs. Drake of Flint, Michigan. They then purchased the old Presbyterian church, then vacated, for $300 and re- moved it piece-meal to the new site. There was no addition to the build- ing nor any outward change in its appearance, and when completed it
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cost the church about $1,800 in money, not including a large amount of donated labor. It was dedicated on August 28, 1867, a little more than twenty-five years from the date of organization. That little church served the congregation until 1911, when they erected a pretty new edi- fice on the corner of Center and Third streets, which was dedicated on November 4th of that year.
In 1877 the church membership was 59, and the church roster has both gained and lost in numbers through the years that have passed, the present membership being between 60 and 70.
The pastors who have been identified with the history of this church since the ministry of Reverend Steele are: Rev. Ezekiel Lucas who re- mained two years ( 1850-2) ; Rev. S. N. Hill, between three and, four years ; Rev. O. C. Thompson of Detroit, one year; Rev. James Nall of Detroit, seven years ( 1861-8) ; Rev. O. C. Thompson, one year ; Rev. Charles S. Pettigrew, one year; Rev. A. W. Marvin of Clyde, Ohio, . about two years; Rev. Samuel Porter, two years; Rev. O. C. Thompson, entered upon his third season of service in Royal Oak in May, 1874, re- maining until 1877; Rev. C. S. Cady, 1877-79; Rev. Robert Havender, 1879-SI; Rev. O. C. Thompson, 1881-82; Rev. Nelson Green, 1882-83: Rev. Richard Vivian, 1883-85; Rev. Peter Barker, 1885 to 1888; then followed a period of four years in which the pulpit was unoccupied ; Rev. Charles Cameron, 1892-93: 1893 to 1897 the pulpit was again un- occupied ; Rev. Lincoln Ostrander, 1898; Joshua Axtell, January, 1899, to January, 1900; Rev. E. C. Oakley and Rev. E. A. Spencer, until April, 1905; Dr. W. I. St. John, the present incumbent, began his labors in the church on April 15, 1905, before his ordination, which took place on October 25, 1910.
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