USA > Michigan > Oakland County > History of Oakland County, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories > Part 105
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I have often thought, while attending our pioneer meeting, if any one of the pioneers of Oakland County ever thought who cleared the land where the court- house now stands in Pontiac. I had the honor of doing that chopping and clear- ing myself. I cleared five acres, commencing at the northeast corner of the lot, and running south as far as what was called Strait-Backs tavern, then west and north and east to the said corner. For this job I received fifty cents a day.
In chopping and clearing land we had many difficulties to overcome, and had to
work often to disadvantage. A great deal of the time water would stand on the ground, and thus delay our progress. At that time there were no ditches to carry the water off, and we had to do the best we could. I have chopped for days to earn fifty cents a day, and stood in the water most of the time from six to eight inches deep. One winter in particular I will mention ; I worked on a job of chop- ping for John Sprague, and a great deal of the time stood in water half-way up my boot-legs, and if I made a misstep the water would run over the tops; but I did not go to the house for dry stockings but worked away until dark ; but, as a general thing, if I kept the water from going over the tops of my boots I had dry feet, for, by the way, those boots were made by an honest man, and warranted to turn water, and they did just as they were recommended to do, and that man of whom I speak was my old friend and pioneer and neighbor, the now Hon. James Bailey, residing at the present time on the same street within Birmingham, and I would that we had just such boot- and shoe-makers at the present day as he was then. I think there would be more dry feet and less bad colds.
While thus working and battling with the hardships of a pioneer life, we had to do without a great many luxuries that we now enjoy. Our grocery-bill was not large compared with what it is at the present day. One pound of tea and ten pounds of sugar would last us a year ; but soon we began to be rewarded for our labor, for after a while we could see here and there through our neighborhood a few acres of clearing, which told us that the forest was being conquered and the mighty-timbered land was being cleared away, and that soon we should see the golden grain waving in its stead; then indeed we felt rich and happy to know that when the harvest was over we should have at least what bread we wanted, and thus destroy that fear that sometimes crossed our minds, that what if we should be sick and could not work we might suffer for want of bread. But now new troubles began to come upon us : my mother became deranged, and of course caused us great uneasiness for fear she might do herself harm, and after a few years of poor health, she died June 13, 1835, sixty-six years of age. After the death of my mother, my father remained for awhile in usual health, but soon he began to feel that old age was telling upon him.
My brother Joseph was not much help to us, and I saw that all the cares wer falling upon me, and I resolved, as I had been taught to do, to honor my father and mother, and come what would, to not neglect them or allow them to suffer as long as life and health was spared me; and I can now in my old age look back to those days and with a clear conscience say I have never failed to do all in my power for their comfort ; poor as I was, I did the best I could, and I often wish that they could have lived to enjoy the luxuries of these days. Long ago they entered the land of the blessed, as I have faith to believe, for they were devout Christians.
Some time after the death of my mother I began to see the need of a help- mate, and married Miss Mary Ann Wright, December 3, 1839. Although she was somewhat younger than me, she has proved an excellent wife and a faithful companion to me, and her patience and kindness towards my father during the last three years of his life I shall never forget. For three years he was not out of the house, and most of the time he was as helpless as a child, and, as I was away a great deal of the time, most of the care of my father came on her to do, and most faithfully did she perform her duty, administering to his wants and comforts in patience and without a murmer. Surely such shall have their reward. My father died January 15, 1846, sixty-eight years of age.
In recalling these instances of pioneer days, a great many of which have passed from my mind, I seem as it were to be living them over again, and I rejoice to know that steps are being taken to preserve a record of them, which, if not done, will soon be among the things of the past and be forgotten forever.
In conclusion, I will say that I have been rewarded for my labors and hardships. For my economy and industry, I have accumulated a sufficient sum for me for the few remaining days that are left me to stay on this earth. We remained on the old farm about forty-five years, or until about seven years ago, when we began to feel the need of rest in our old age from the cares and labors of the farm. We sold the farm and removed to the quiet village of Birmingham, where we expect to live until we are called to join our kindred dead. I am now in the seventy- first year of my age, and in usual health for one of those years.
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SUPPLEMENT.
PERSONAL SKETCHES RECEIVED TOO LATE TO INSERT UNDER THEIR PROPER HEADINGS.
A. S. BROOKS.
NOVI.
Alexander Simpson Brooks, son of David 'and Catharine Brooks, was born on the 13th of December, 1817, in the town of Ovid, Seneca county, New York, where he remained until he had entered his twenty-second year, when he went with his father to Avon, near Genesee, New York, at which place the father had rented eleven hundred acres of land. There he remained more than two years. On the 13th of January, 1841, he was married at Ovid, to Miss Amanda Leonard, by whom have been born to him six sons and four daughters, as follows : Lyman L., Martha C., Helen E., Charles S., Alice E., Henry, Kate M., Homer, Frederick Stanley, and Benjamin.
In August, 1842, he came with his family to Michigan, and settled on the west town-line in Novi, on the farm which he now occupies. This land-three hun- dred and twenty acres-he had purchased in the year 1839 of his uncle, Benja- min Simpson, who had bought of - Belknap, who made the original entry.
On this half section there were ninety acres cleared, and three log cabins built, each eighteen by twenty feet in size, and each with fire-place. Two of these he moved together, which made him a comfortable habitation. Here he was com -. pletely shut in by heavy woods, and he says he was never so happy in his life as when he had cut away enough of these to enable him to see the light of a neighbor about a mile distant. There were no roads reaching to his farm when he came, and one of his first necessities was to construct them, so as to give him access to the outside world.
In his old home in New York his inclination had been towards the raising of pure-blooded stock, for he believed then, just what his later experience has veri- fied, that such stock alone are profitable to produce. It being his intention to embark in this enterprise in his new home, he made his commencement by bring- ing hither, in the fall of 1843, from New York, four head of Durham cattle and nine pure merino sheep. Barely avoiding the "Julia Palmer" disaster on the trip out, and also barely escaping the drowning of his stock at Buffalo by the unprecedented rise of water forced in by a westerly gale (the water rising eight feet deep during the night in the stable from which he had fortunately removed them at nightfall), and having lost, but recovered, them at Hamtramck, on the route from Detroit, he finally brought them safely to his farm in Novi.
Upon their arrival he was ridiculed by his neighbors on the poor appearance of the stock, their expensiveness, and, as they said, the tenderness with which they had been reared, which would make them worthless in the wilds of Mich- igan ; but the result has disproved all their prophecies and established the correct- ness of Mr. Brooks' ideas. The man who said most in ridicule of the stock when they arrived was the first to purchase them.
Mr. Brooks' array of stock to-day stands ahead of any in Michigan ; the only farmer who is able to make any show of comparison with his being Daniel M. Uhl, of Ypsilanti. He-Mr. Brooks-has now thirty head of Durhams, and has generally from one hundred and fifty to two hundred sheep, all of strictly pure blood, which yield him seven pounds per fleece. When he first took this farm it was under a mortgage, but this he paid long ago, and there has been none since. He has the same acreage which he had at first, but in cultivation and in the improvements made the change is very great. Besides this he has paid fully ten thousand dollars for land on which to establish his sons, of whom he has three married, to whom he has given one hundred, one hundred and ten, and one hundred and sixty acres respectively, one being located at Brighton, one five miles on the road towards Milford, and one near Novi Corners. With the assistance of his remaining sons he performs all the labor of the farm, except in the season of harvest. His average yearly production of wheat is one thousand bushels. He has aimed to attend strictly to his own business, and has never sought, nor willingly accepted, office.
It is admitted that his introduction of fine stock into Oakland has been more than a hundred thousand dollars' benefit to the county, and it is his desire to im- press on the minds of those who come after him that they can afford to produce none but good stock, and that the raising of such, if persevered in, is sure to prove profitable in the end. A view of Mr. Brooks' fine place is given in this volume.
JOHN W. MORSE. 22 :
NOVI.
John W. Morse, now a well-known resident of the township of Novi, was born in Virgil, Cortland county, New York, February 28, 1826. In the fall of 1834, when he was in his ninth year, he removed with his parents to Michigan, where they settled in the township and county of Oakland. He continued with them here for eighteen years, at the end of which time he removed to the farm on which he now resides, in Novi. This farm embraces three hundred and sixty acres, of which twenty acres is in orchard. Mr. Morse's specialties in agriculture are fruit, stock, and grain, and it is safe to say that there are few better farms than his in Oakland County. On another page may be seen a representation of his fine farm residence, an establishment which in an unusual degree combines utility with beauty. The basement of his house is so constructed as to permit the en- trance of teams, to facilitate the process of storage of fruits and vegetables, for which purpose it is especially arranged.
Mr. Morse has been twice married ; first, in the year 1852, to Eliza M. Rollin, from which union was born a son, whose portrait is given with the farm view. Mrs. Morse died September 2, 1855. His second marriage was with Miss Laura Sandford, his present wife, November 17, 1859. Her family was among the list of those of Novi's earliest pioneers.
Mr. Morse is Republican in politics, and is a member of the Baptist church. He has held the office of justice of the peace for six years, but never sought that nor any other office, and has no aspirations as a politician, preferring rather to live on happily and independently in the exercise of his chosen vocation of hus- bandry, and in healthful and honest labor upon his magnificent farm.
His father, Mr. John Morse, a New England man by birth, and a soldier of the War of 1812, is still residing in Novi, near his son. He is eighty-six years of age.
JOHN BASSETT.
NOVI.
The father of this gentleman, Samuel Bassett, late of Bloomfield township, Oakland County, was born in New Haven county, Connecticut, in March, 1784. From thence, about 1806, he removed to Ovid, Seneca county, New York, where his son, John Bassett, the subject of this sketch, was born May 29, 1816.
In June, 1832, he removed to Michigan with his father, who settled in Bloom- field. John remained with him there until 1837, in which year-February 18- he married Ervilla Coomer, of Farmington, and settled in Novi, on a tract of two hundred and forty acres of land purchased from government by his father in 1831, and which constitutes the fine homestead farm on which he still resides.
Samuel Bassett continued his residence in Bloomfield township until his death, which occurred in the autumn of 1873, at the age of eighty-nine years.
A. J. WELSH.
NOVI.
Andrew Jackson Welsh is of English extraction, the son of John G. Welsh, and was born in Royalton, Niagara county, New York, April 15, 1824. In the
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
following year he was brought to Michigan by his parents, who settled in Livonia, Wayne county. On the 7th of November, 1850, he married Laura A. Dennis, daughter of George B. Dennis, of Novi, and by this union four children were born, as follows :
Alice A., died at five years of age; Alma K., now living with parents; and Charles N. and Cora May,-the last two twins and remaining with parents. In politics Mr. Welsh is a Republican, in religion always a Baptist. He has two hundred and forty acres of fine improved land, and an attractive homestead, of which a view is given elsewhere.
GEORGE B. DENNIS.
NOVI.
This gentleman, the father of Mrs. A. J. Welsh, was born in Norwich, Con- necticut. and settled in Monroe county, New York, on reaching his majority. He was a veteran of the war of 1812, having served in that conflict under Gen- eral Hopkins. He married Abigail Day, a native of Vermont, who had removed to Monroe county. They removed to Michigan in 1847, and settled in Novi, on the homestead now occupied by their son, George Dennis. Both are now deceased, Mrs. Dennis having lived to the age of eighty-three years.
RILEY C. SHAW.
NOVI.
The subject of this sketch was born in the town of Bristol, Ontario county, New York. April 12, 1816. . At the age of thirteen he removed with his father to Michigan. and settled in the township of Novi, where he has lived until the present time. On September 24. 1839, he was married in Novi, to Miss Rebecca Rodgers. by whom four children have been born to him, as follows : Richmond F. Shaw. now living near the old home; James Shaw, also living near; John Shaw, living with his father; and a daughter, Elizabeth, who died at the age of fifteen years. The mother of these, Mrs. Rebecca Shaw, died October 1, 1876.
In politics Mr. Shaw is, and has always been, a Democrat ; in religion his views do not lean strongly towards those of any particular creed. He has a finely-im- proved farm of three hundred acres, and his homestead is pictorially represented on another page.
PHILIP SHAW.
NOVI.
The father of Riley C. Shaw, of Novi, was born in the year of Cornwallis' surrender,-1781,-in Dighton, Massachusetts, from whence he removed to Ontario county, New York, where he married Chloe Foster. He remained in Ontario county until 1829, when he removed to Michigan, having quite a large amount of money for those days, and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in sections 21 and 22, in the township of Novi, upon which he lived until his death. which occurred October 4, 1876, at the age of ninety-six years and seven months.
He was a soldier of the war of 1812, a Democrat in politics, and a Universalist in religion. He had been the father of eleven children, of whom three only are now living, all in Novi, viz. : William F., Nancy J., and Riley C. Shaw.
JOSHUA SIMMONS.
NOVI.
The venerable citizen whose name is at the head of this sketch was the eldest of a large family, and was born at Dighton, Bristol county, Massachusetts, on the 12th of April, 1801. In the same year his parents removed to Bristol, Ontario county, New York, where Joshua remained with his father, attending the common school and engaged in the duties of the farm, until he reached the age of twenty- one years, when he obtained employment on his own account, and worked at thirteen dollars per month until he had realized the sum of two hundred and twenty-five dollars, and then, at the age of twenty-three years, came to Michigan and selected and entered one hundred and sixty acres of land in section 6 in the township of Livonia, Wayne county. Having accomplished this he returned to Ontario county, and labored for two years longer, then, on the 13th of January, 1826, married Hannah Macomber, of Bristol, and in the September following again left for Michigan, taking with him his young wife, to commence life in the wilderness. They came by the old steamboat "Superior" on Lake Erie to Detroit,
and were three days on the way from thence to their place of destination, nine- teen miles, though they were compelled to travel fully thirty miles before arriving there. The teamsters who brought him out were Leland Green and Wardwell Green, whom he was unable to pay in full for the service, lacking five dollars of the requisite amount. The household goods were unloaded upon the ground, and the owner remained with them through the long hours of the drizzling, rainy night. His wife had been left at a Mr. Thayer's, a mile distant, with the arrangement that in the morning he would fire a gun to notify her that all was safe and right. Anxiously she listened and joyously she heard it, and before another night had closed in she was in occupation of their own cabin, which, by the kind assistance of pioneer neighbors, had been built during the day, and securely roofed in with basswood troughs.
Mr. Simmons was a natural mechanic, and had brought a few tools with him to the west, and these served him a good turn in the support of his family, for a day of mechanical labor would then command two days of unskilled labor on farm or in forest, and Mr. Simmons turned all his skill to the best account. He built the first frame barn in the town of Plymouth, this being on the farm of Erastus Starkweather, erected in 1827, and in his own township of Livonia he also built the first barn of that description upon his own farm in 1829. He hewed the timber for the first mill built in Plymouth, and also for the first one in the township of Farmington, this being the mill built by Edward Steel on the stream above Farmington village.
The first Michigan election Mr. Simmons participated in was held somewhere in the town of Dearborn, and to reach the polls he, in company with a neighbor, started before daylight on foot, following a line of "blazed" trees many miles through the forest. His vote for supervisor was cast for Rev. Marcus Swift, who was competing for the honors of that office with Mr. Teneyck, of hotel notoriety. Mr. Swift was elected by a majority of two.
By the most persistent and unremitting toil, Mr. Simmons cleared his land and gave it a thorough cultivation, and in due time the old log cabin was demolished, and in its place, in the year 1841, he erected a new residence, which at the time was universally acknowledged to be the finest farm-house in the county, and of which Mr. S. P. Lyon, of Farmington, was architect and builder. On another page we present a representation of this residence, which is still among the finest in that part of the county of Wayne.
The names of the children who have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Simmons are as follows: Richmond C., L. Wellington, William T., J. Morell, Mary E., Jennie E., and Helen M. All of these excepting William and Jennie are living, and all married and settled on farms near the old home.
In politics Mr. Simmons has always been a Democrat of the Jacksonian school, and in religious faith a Universalist. From his farm and his other enterprises he has amassed an ample fortune, and about eight years since he retired from all active business, resolved to spend the remnant of his days in ease and quiet with the partner of his youth, and with the children who delight to do him honor.
WELCOME CAMPBELL.
ROYAL OAK.
This gentleman, now a resident of the township of Royal Oak, was born in Paris, Oneida county, New York, July 20, 1810. He received his education in Monroe county, New York, and after his school-days were over learned the business of coopering. In the year 1834 he removed to Michigan, and settled on section 7, in the town of Oxford, Oakland County, arriving upon his premises on the 26th of May. His aged father accompanied him to his new home, and remained there, an honored inmate, until his death, which occurred on the 6th of September, 1843.
They were among the first settlers of Oxford. The first religious services in the town were held in Mr. Campbell's house, and he assisted in the erection of the first house of worship, as well as the first school-house.
On the 9th of June, 1839, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary J. Che- ney, by whom he became the father of five sons and five daughters, of whom all the sons and three daughters are now living.
His location in Oxford was known as " Campbell's Corners," and here he re- mained for twenty-five years, most actively engaged in the various pursuits of ag- riculture, merchandising, building, and his original trade of coopering, and he also was proprietor of a store in Pontiac. The prosecution of these vocations has produced a wide change in his pecuniary circumstances since the time when he first arrived in Michigan, forty-three years ago, poor enough in the matter of worldly wealth.
In November, 1859, he removed with his large family to the township of Royal
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Oak, where he had purchased a tract of seven hundred and fifty acres of land. Upon this tract he lived and made improvements for sixteen years, until he brought it up to rank as one of the very best farms in the township. A most desirable feature of his improvement was the planting of maple-trees for shade on both sides of the highway, and it would be well if this public-spirited practice should become more general among farmers. A pictorial representation of his homestead will be found among the pages of this work.
Mr. Campbell's eight children are settled on farms of seventy to eighty acres each, which were cut from his original tract, and he has sixty acres left as a home- stead, all clear of debt. His residence at present is in Royal Oak village, where he devotes his time to the keeping of bees, in which he claims an improved sys- tem. His apiary yields him annually about two tons of honey.
DEACON MELVIN DRAKE.
SOUTHFIELD.
Melvin Drake, son of Larned Drake, of Easton, Massachusetts, was born in that town on the 20th of December, 1805, and at the age of six years removed with his parents to Orange county, Vermont. There he remained until 1821, when, at sixteen years of age, he obtained employment in Shoreham, Addison county, in the same State. At this place he worked steadily until 1830, when, on the 19th of September, he was united in marriage to Miss Harriet Pratt, of Shoreham, and, having already decided to emigrate to the west, the young couple at once packed their movables, and taking first the Northern canal, at Whitehall, and afterwards the Erie canal, for Buffalo, took passage at the latter port for De- troit, by steamer " Niagara," arriving at their destination on the 11th of October, 1830. Leaving his wife in Detroit, Mr. Drake proceded to Washtenaw county, and there made selection of an eighty-acre tract of land, but on returning to the land office at Detroit, he found that this had already been entered, but was told by an acquaintance that there was plenty of fine land in Oakland County, which he would have no difficulty in securing, and upon this assurance he came to Southfield and made selection of eighty acres, which he had means to pay for from the earnings of his nine years' labor in Vermont. He at once commenced the erection of a house, which he had ready for occupancy in four weeks, himself and wife in the mean time stopping in the log house of a neighbor, whose own family numbered twelve persons.
His purchase was a heavily-timbered tract in section 2. Upon this he re- mained until 1833, when he exchanged it with Isaac Heth for forty acres of open- ing in section 6, to which he at once removed, and upon which he now resides. He soon found plenty of eligible land for sale adjoining and near his new pur- chase, and of these he bought, until at one time he was the owner of about four hundred acres, lying nearly in a body.
On the organization of the Congregational (now First Presbyterian) church of Southfield, Mr. and Mrs. Drake united with it, by letter, from the Congregational church at Shoreham, Vermont, of which they were both members before their emigration. Mr. Drake was elected deacon at the organization, and remained the only deacon of that church for seventeen years.
On account of the distance at which they resided from the Southfield house of worship they withdrew from that church about the year 1852, and united with the Wing Lake Presbyterian church in Bloomfield, in which Deacon Drake was elected an elder, and has continued to hold that office until the present time.
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