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 106
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The children born to Deacon and Mrs. Drake have been : Francis W., born June 17, 1831, and died October 5, 1872; Almira S., born March 20, 1833, married January 1, 1852, to John B. Sly, of Bloomfield ; and Mary P., born February 5, 1836, married April 4, 1860, to Isaac N. Covert, and died February 22, 1874.
Mrs. Drake was the daughter of Charles M. Pratt, of Williston, Vermont, and was born June 12, 1809. She had two brothers, now both dead, and has three sisters, one living in Illinois, one in Stockbridge, Ingham county, Michigan, and a third, Mrs. Rust, in Southfield. Her father also removed to Michigan in 1834, purchased forty acres of land in Southfield, but after a time removed to the town- ship of Addison, thence to Shiawassee county, then returned to Franklin about 1870, and died in 1871, at the age of ninety-five years and two months. The father of Mr. Drake also followed his son to the west in 1835, located on section 10, in Southfield, where he lived until his death, which occurred in 1863, his age being seventy-nine years.
Deacon Drake has at various times filled township offices, and more than forty years ago was an officer in the Southfield militia, being commissioned second lieutenant by Stephen T. Mason, the war governor of Michigan, and he was afterwards advanced to the grade of captain.
He is no longer extensively engaged in agriculture, having reduced his acreage
by sales and invested in government securities, and there is no reason why he and his partner, with their ample means and clear consciences, should not find quiet and solid comfort in the evening of their days.
ISAAC HETH.
SOUTHFIELD.
The subject of this sketch was born in the State of Vermont, September 25, 1787, and was married to Miss Betsey Brown, December 17, 1815. The children of this union were Minerva Heth, who died in infancy, in 1816; Mary Heth, born in May, 1817, now Mrs. Warren, and living with her daughter in St. John, Clinton county, Michigan ; Truman B. Heth, born in August, 1819, now a farmer in Ingham county, Michigan ; George W. Heth, born December 2, 1822, now living in Southfield township; and Harriet N. Heth, born in 1825.
In 1827 he removed to Michigan, and settled on the east half of the southeast quarter of section 6, in Southfield, and here he remained for nearly six years. In the first part of the year 1833 he exchanged forty acres of his land in section 6 with Deacon Melvin Drake for double that number of acres of Drake's purchase in section 2, upon which he removed with his family in February of that year, and upon which he lived, in the quiet pursuit of agriculture, until his death, which occurred on the 13th of December, 1871, when he was eighty-four years of age. His widow, Mrs. Betsey Heth (born in New Hampshire, August 24, 1788) is still living on the homestead in Southfield, with her son, Geo. W. Heth, and apparently has as full and perfect possession of every faculty as a woman of half her age. She was an original member of the First Congregational church of Southfield, at its organization, more than forty years ago, and has so continued till the present time. Her husband became also a member soon after, and was such at the time of his death. He was elected justice of the peace in Southfield for one or more terms, but had no desire for office, preferring to devote all his time to the improvement of his farm, nearly all of which he subdued from a dense forest, and brought to the state of cultivation in which he left it. His son, who now occupies the homestead, has increased his possessions to one hundred and forty-six acres. A view of the residence of John N. Heth, son of George W., and grandson of Isaac, is given in this work.
JOHN B. SLY.
BLOOMFIELD.
This resident of Bloomfield township, son of Jacob and Susanna Sly, was born in Newtown, now Elmira, Chemung county, New York, May 13, 1823, and at the age of six months was brought by his parents to Michigan, where they settled in the western part of the township of Bloomfield, and where the years of his boyhood and youth were passed in the manner in which that happy period of their lives is usually passed by the sons of well-to-do Michigan farmers.
His first commencement of the business of life, upon leaving his father's roof, was that of laboring in the employ of Mr. James Hunt, with the intention of accumulating sufficient means to enable him to purchase land upon which to prosecute his chosen vocation, that of agriculture. It was a slow process, but by the practice of the strictest economy he finally accomplished it, and purchased" from Edward Warner, solely with the proceeds of his own labor, the land which constitutes the fine farm on which he now resides, in the southwest corner of sec- tion 29 in Bloomfield.
On the 1st of January, 1852, he was married to Miss Almira S. Drake, daugh- ter of Deacon Melvin Drake, of Southfield. She is now an earnest and zealous member of the Wing Lake Presbyterian church. Three children have been born to them, namely :
Melvin D., born April 27, 1853; Mary Eva,; born July 29, 1856 (and died October 27, 1857); and Charles B., born April 21, 1866; both the sons being still living.
Mr. Sly's farm is an excellent one, though not of the largest, being seventy acres in extent. It is in a high state of cultivation, well stocked with fruit-trees, and with its capacious barns and fine dwelling (the former built in 1865 and the latter in 1872, and of which a pictorial representation will be found on another page of this work), could hardly fail to be the cause of a feeling of honest pride in its owner, of whose energy and unaided labor all this is the result. Of the lands of his father, which lay opposite his own, in section 32, Mr. Sly never received an acre.
JOHN B. CARTWRIGHT.
BLOOMFIELD.
John Bryan Cartwright was born in Little Steeping, Lincolnshire, England, November 22, 1816, being the son of William and Susan Cartwright of that
334
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
place. His father, who was a farmer, dying before he was two years old, he was taken to live at the house of his uncle, Frederick Norton, at Tumby, in the same county, and afterwards learned his uncle's trade, which was that of maltster and brewer.
On the 22d of March, 1842, he was married at Blyton, England, by Rev. Robert Cheseborough, to Miss Mary Jane Tyson, of Wainfleet, Lincolnshire, from which marriage there have been born five children, namely :
Frederick W., born June 6. 1843, and now living in the township of Troy.
Melissa A., born October 3, 1846, now living in Troy, the wife of John Truesdell.
Myron M., born May 4, 1849, and died November 2, 1860.
Mary Evangeline, born July 2, 1854, and died October 29, 1860; and an infant boy, died February 18, 1858.
In the next year after his marriage he emigrated with his wife to America, arriving (by sailing ship) at New York May 2, 1843, and proceeding at once to Utica, Macomb county, where Mrs. Cartwright had a brother, who was a foundry- man. They arrived there on the 26th of May, and at that time Mr. Cartwright's entire stock of money amounted to just seven cents. He had no alternative but to commence as a laborer, which he did, in the township of Shelby, working for Ira H. Butterfield and Payne K. Leech. He continued as a laborer for two years, at the end of which time he purchased an eighty-acre tract in section 28 of the town of Sterling, of P. K. Leech, his employer, at two hundred dollars. At the end of a year he had one hundred and nine dollars and six cents, which he paid on the purchase, having four years in which to pay the remainder ; but about this time his wife became ill, and he, feeling a little discouraged, offered to sell back to Leech all his right in the land for the consideration of a two-year-old heifer and a barrel of flour, which was refused; he then offered it to Seth Wil- liams for a quarter of beef and five bushels of buckwheat, with the same result. Finally. he sold it to George Falls for five dozen brooms. Six months afterwards he received the brooms, took them to Detroit, and sold them for three dollars, of which he paid two dollars and ninety-seven cents for arrears of taxes; and this was the end of his first attempt at becoming a land-owner in America.
He then worked on shares the farm of William Lester in the township of Ster- ling, and at the end of two years purchased and moved upon sixty acres of land in the same township, upon which he worked for four years, chopping and clear- ing thirty acres in that time. He then sold the tract to Washington Stanley and moved to Troy. where he purchased eighty acres of Albert Sprague, and twenty acres adjoining of Nelson Phy, and forty acres each from Tracy Babcock and Joshua Fay, making in all a farm of one hundred and eighty acres.
In 1862 he re-visited England, leaving Detroit on the 1st of May, and arriving there again on his return on the 14th of August, more pleased than ever with his home in America.
On the 27th of April, 1864, he removed to Birmingham village, resolved to live easy. as he said, and which his pecuniary circumstances enabled him to do. He purchased one and a half acres from Ammos Davis, to which he added other purchases, which bring the total of his land in Birmingham up to twelve and three-quarter acres.
His handsome residence, of which a view is given on another page of this work, was built by him in 1866, excepting the wing, which was erected before he purchased. and to which the main structure was built. This estimable couple are now in their declining years, enjoying a pleasant and comfortable manner of life, to which their early labors and struggles have richly entitled them.
DR. EBENEZER RAYNALE.
BLOOMFIELD.
Ebenezer Raynale, only son of Ebenezer and Mary Raynale, was born in Hart- land, Windsor county, Vermont, on the 21st of October, 1804. His father, who died in September of the same year, had done a little in the business of farming, and to this had added the professions of teacher and land surveyor.
Three years after her husband's death Mrs. Raynale removed with her two children, Harriet and Ebenezer. to Brooklyn, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, where, a year later, she married Jonathan Sabin, and soon after they removed to the township of Ovid, now Lodi, Seneca county, New York. Here they remained but a short time, and removed to Reading, Steuben county, New York, where they resided until 1819, when they made another removal, this time to Cambria, Niagara county, New York. Here young Raynale lived with his stepfather until he reached the age of nineteen years, when he went to Brooklyn, Pennsylvania, his former home, and there for four years devoted himself unremittingly to the acquisition of learning and the preparation for the duties of a professional life, which he had decided on entering.
At the expiration of this time, with certificates of three years' medical study in his pocket, he returned to Cambria, and gave another year to hard study under charge of Dr. Darius Shaw, and was then admitted to the practice of medicine and surgery, under the laws of New York, which at that time were very rigid in this particular.
In the first part of May, 1828, having decided to emigrate to Michigan, he took passage on the steamboat " Henry Clay," at Buffalo, for Detroit, where he arrived on the 5th, and after a very short stay in the city, proceeded to the place which is now the village of Franklin, in Southfield township, where he established and commenced business in the line of his profession on the 12th of May. He was then the only physician in Southfield, and his nearest professional brethren on the east and west were Dr. Ezra S. Parke, at Piety Hill, and Dr. Ezekiel
Webb, at Farmington. The country was but sparsely settled, and physicians were called from a long distance. Dr. Raynale, in the performance of his pro- fessional duties, was obliged to traverse and re-traverse the townships of West Bloomfield, Farmington, Southfield, and Bloomfield, always, of course, on horse- back, and it was not long before he commenced to enjoy that professional popu- larity and esteem which has followed him through all the years of his career.
During the winter of 1828-29 he procured the establishment of the post-office of Franklin, and was himself appointed postmaster, which position he held for seven years. In October, 1830, he married Miss Eliza Cassidy, of Springville, Susque- hanna county, Pennsylvania, with whom he has lived in happiness for almost forty-seven years. They have four children, all of whom have reached adult age, -Mrs. E. R. King, of Pontiac; S. B. Raynale, of Corunna, Michigan ; Mrs. G. A. Patterson, of Detroit ; and Dr. C. M. Raynale, of Birmingham.
In 1835, Dr. Raynale was elected a member of the convention to form the State constitution, and in the fall of the same year was elected to the State senate for the term of two years, through which he served ably and faithfully. At the first meeting of the legislature, a part of its business was the election of a United States senator, concerning which there was a warm contest, though not between different parties, as there was really but one party, the Democratic, represented in. that first legislature. Dr. Raynale sustained the candidates who proved success- ful, and he is to-day the only survivor among their supporters in that legislature.
During his senatorial term a great amount of work was done, among which was the establishment of the common school system, of the State university, the luna- tic asylum and the State prison, the framing of a new code of laws adapted to the wants of the people, and the commencement of a system of internal improve- ments.
At the expiration of his term in the senate, Dr. Raynale settled on a farm in Bloomfield, where he remained for two years, and then settled in Birmingham, resuming the practice of his profession in 1839. In 1850 he was elected a mem- ber of the convention to form a new constitution, and served faithfully with that body. He has now relinquished his practice to his son, Dr. C. M. Raynale, but his services are still frequently called by patrons whose physician he has always been, and who desire no other.
WILLIAM P. DURKEE.
BLOOMFIELD.
The family of Durkee trace their ancestry back to about the year 1715, when two brothers of the name came to America from Wales,-one settling in Ver- mont and the other in the State of New York, from which last named is de- scended the subject of this sketch, William P. Durkee, who was born in Scipio, Cayuga county, New York, June 16, 1807, and in the sixteenth year of his age came to Michigan with his father, Wilkes Durkee, who brought with him some- thing over one thousand dollars in silver money, and purchased a large amount of land from the government. He built his log house on section 33, where George W. Durkee now owns. In this he lived for eight or ten years, and then erected a large double house, of oak logs, which was one and a half stories high at one end and two and a half stories at the other, the difference being on account of the inequality of the ground on which it stood, and in this he lived the remain- der of his life. He died of apoplexy, on the 22d of December, 1844, aged seventy-eight years. Mr. Durkee was an extensive farmer, having sometimes a hundred acres in wheat, and keeping large numbers of cattle and sheep. He was twice married, the children of the first marriage being Almeron, Stephen F., William P., Rial, and two daughters, and those of the second marriage being John F., Wilkes W., and two daughters. Almeron, full brother to William P., never came to Michigan, and died in New York State; Stephen F. died in Bloom- field, in January, 1877, aged seventy-two years ; and Rial is living at Long Lake, Genesee county, Michigan.
Young William Durkee remained with his father in Bloomfield until he at- tained his majority, when he returned to New York and made a stay of a few years, then came back and received from his father a gift of one hundred acres of land (the tract on which he now resides), and to this he has added by purchase from time to time, until he is now probably the largest land-owner in Bloomfield, his home farm being five hundred and sixty acres in extent, all cleared and under cultivation except about eighty acres, which is in fine timber.
Mr. Durkee has been twice married, the first marriage being with Miss Caro- line Warner, in the year 1833, and of which were born three children, namely : John G., born February 14, 1834; George W., born November 28, 1838; and Caroline A., born April 27, 1842.
The mother of these children died December 27, 1850, and Mr. Durkee was married to Polly Ann Pratt, May 10, 1851. The children of this marriage have been Emily, born December 25, 1853 ; Walter, born July 22, 1856; Charles Philo, born January 29, 1859, and died February 13, 1861 ; Amos R., born November 18, 1862 ; and Hattie B., born August 26, 1864.
The son, George W., who owns and occupies the farm of his grandfather, Wilkes Durkee, was married to Eveline J. Buel, June 4, 1861 ; John G., the eldest, was married on the 31st of December, 1855, to Miss Mary Ann Boughner ; Caroline A. became the wife of George German, October 8, 1876, and, on the same day, Emily was united in marriage to Frank German.
Mr. Durkee is a consistent Christian, a member of the Methodist Protestant church of Franklin. Through life he has never been an aspirant to public place or office, but has lived honestly and industriously, giving to every man his due, and attending strictly and constantly to the business of his great farm ; and he has his reward in the respect of his fellow-citizens, and in his enviable position of the first agriculturist of the township of Bloomfield.
MILITARY HISTORY.
ALL peoples have more or less of the military spirit among them, as the history of our earth amply testifies, and the early settlers of Oakland County were no exception to the rule.
The bulk of them were descended from that gallant old stock which dared to stand up for their rights and defy the military power of one of the strongest nations in the world-the Revolutionary fathers-of whom a number became citizens of the county.
The second war with Great Britain, which Franklin called the " war of independ- ence," was fresh in the memory of the people, and many of the participators in the campaigns of Harrison, Brown, and Macomb had settled in the new country. It was but natural, under the circumstances, that the active military spirit should be kept alive, and we find that at a very early day military organizations were formed, and every man between the ages of seventeen and forty-five was required, under the Territorial and State laws, to do his share of duty.
A regiment was organized in Oakland County as early as 1825. It is difficult to determine who was the first commanding officer, but among the first were Colonel David Steward, Colonel Henry O. Bronson, and Colonel Calvin Hotchkiss.
This regiment became so large in the course of a few years as to require a division into two. One was called the "rifle regiment," and was tastefully uniformed ; the other did duty in citizens' clothes, and was known as the militia or "floodwood" regiment.
Calvin Hotchkiss commanded the first company organized in Pontiac. He was a very popular military man, and rose eventually to the rank of general of militia. Ephraim S. Williams was ensign of this company, and afterwards adjutant of the regiment. There was a "general muster" annually in the autumn, and company drills at more frequent intervals.
At the time of the celebrated
"TOLEDO WAR"
all able-bodied men were called out, and the air was full of rumors of battle, and great preparations were made to "meet the enemy." Charles C. Hascall was ap- pointed general of division, and Wm. L. P. Little, of Saginaw, colonel, and E. S. Williams, major, on the general's staff.
Immense preparations were made, and there is no doubt, had a conflict been precipi- tated, but the Michigan troops would have held the "disputed territory." Happily the matter was adjusted without bloodshed, and the brave and gallant sons of the " Wolverine State" came home with undiminished ranks, and, if not "covered with glory," at least filled with the consciousness of having done their duty.
The rank of the officers of the Saginaw division was merely nominal, as no com- missions were issued.
In 1826 Almon Mack was elected ensign of Captain Hotchkiss' company; T. J. Drake was lieutenant; and G. O. Whittemore was ensign, preceding Mack ; Elias B. Comstock was orderly sergeant. Lieutenant Drake afterwards resigned and Whitte- more was promoted.
Ensign Mack was promoted lieutenant in the fall of 1827, and detailed as acting adjutant the same year.
Governor Cass was present at the general muster in 1827, and made an address to the regiment. The governor was a strong Jackson man, but the regiment is said to have had only three Jackson men in its ranks.
Colonel Stephen Mack received his military title in Vermont previous to removing to Michigan, he having been colonel of one of the Green Mountain regiments before the war of 1812-15.
We find allusions to a company commanded by Captain John W. Hunter, which was afterwards divided, and Captain Calvin Hotchkiss commanded the newly-formed company.
In the Oakland Chronicle, November, 1830, a court-martial is ordered by Colonel David Perin, commanding the Fourth Regiment, to assemble at the house of Solo- mon Frost,-Thomas J. Drake, president of the court, and Lieutenants F. A. Sprague and Andrew C. Walker, members.
A brigade muster was held at Romeo, Macomb county, on the 19th, 20th, and 21st of October, 1830, Brigadier-General John Stockton commanding ; brigade composed of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Regiments. Major S. H. Giles, Inspector ; Elisha Beach, A. D. C.
On the 8th of January, 1831, a grand military ball was held in commemoration of the victory of New Orleans, at the house of Solomon Close, in Pontiac. Military officers in uniform, and the occasion graced by many prominent ladies and gentlemen from abroad.
A
In 1835 the military of Oakland County formed the Third Brigade of the Second Division, Brigadier-General John Stockton, commanding ; Colonel Wells Warring, commanding brigade.
In March, 1836, the " Oakland Rifle Regiment" were ordered by J. Hamilton, colonel commanding, to furnish themselves with uniform-gray coat and pants, and common black hats with plate and plume.
On the 10th and 13th of October, 1837 (inclusive), the Fourth Regiment, Colonel John Frank, and the Rifle Regiment, Colonel John Hamilton, mustered at Pontiac. These regiments constituted the Third Brigade of Michigan Militia, under com- mand of Colonel Calvin Hotchkiss; A. B. Newcomb, Brigade Major and Inspector. .
In 1838 Oakland County contained two regiments, the Ninth and Tenth, belonging to the Fifth Brigade of the Third Division. Charles C. Hascall, Major-General ; . Elijah F. Cook, Brigadier-General; William Crooks, Colonel Ninth Regiment ; Orange Foote, Colonel Tenth Regiment.
Through the kindness of Hon. Henry M. Look and Mr. C. Z. Horton, we here- with give a copy of the muster-roll of the
AVON RIFLEMEN, OCTOBER 5, 1839.
NAME. RANK AND DATE OF COMMISSION.
Calvin Chapel. Captain, July 9, 1838.
Calvin A. Green. First Lieutenant, July 9, 1838.
Almeron Brotherton Second Lieutenant, July 9, 1838.
Thomas Stewart. .Third Lieutentant, July 9, 1838.
Christian Z. Horton First Sergeant, July 9, 1888.
Ormul Stewart .Second Sergeant, July 9, 1838.
Francis Brotherton Third Sergeant, July 9, 1838.
Calvin H. Potter Fourth Sergeant, July 9, 1838.
Daniel N. Fermer.
. First Corporal, July 9, 1838.
John M. Wilcox.
Second Corporal, July 9, 1838.
John N. Briggs
.Third Corporal, July 9, 1838.
George Patrick.
Fourth Corporal, July 9, 1838.
Victor Height ..
Bass Drummer, July 9, 1838.
Alvin G. Fowler
Bass Drummer, October 5, 1839.
James Barber.
Snare-Drummer, September 14, 1838.
David Sexton
Snare Drummer, May 30, 1840.
Dennis Merwin .... .Fifer, July 9, 1838.
Asabel Leet. .Fifer, September 14, 1838.
Alvin B. Allen. .Fifer, July 9, 1838.
William Corwin. Private, July 9, 1838.
.Private, July 9, 1838.
Hiram Smith
.Private, July 9, 1838.
Abraham Hill
. Private, July 9, 1838.
Emery Brotherton.
Private, July 9, 1838.
Theodore S. Wilcox
.Private, October 5, 1839.
William N. Wells.
Private, July 9, 1838.
Abraham Decker.
.Private, July 9, 1838.
Willis Lawson.
Private, July 9, 1838.
William L. Millard.
Private, July 9, 1838.
Aaron Webster.
.Private, July 9, 1838.
John W. Norton ...
Private, July 9, 1838.
George B. Webster.
Private, July 9, 1838.
George W. Demorist.
Private, July 9, 1838.
Perkins H. Green
Private, July 9, 1838. Private, July 9, 1838.
John Wells ...
.Private, September 14, 1838.
John O. Van Antwerp.
Private, September 14, 1838.
Otis G. Stinson
Private, September 14, 1838.
Washington J. Adams.
. Private, April 2, 1839.
Asahel Leet. Private, September 14, 1838.
William C. Tower. .Private, September 14, 1838.
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