History of Oakland County, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories, Part 28

Author: Durant, Samuel W
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts & co.
Number of Pages: 553

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 28

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The father of Mr. Purse died when he was four years of age. His mother subsequently married Abram Burns, and they removed to Oakland County in 1829, settling first in the township of Troy, afterwards removing to Royal Oak.

The subject of this sketch lived at home until his marriage, working and im- proving the farm.

Mr. Purse was an intelligent and respected citizen, a devoted husband, and a kind father. He died on the first day of April, 1877, at the age of fifty-nine years, universally regretted. At the time of his death his homestead consisted of two hundred and fifty-six acres of finely-improved land, a view of which, together with portraits of himself and wife, are herewith given. Mr. Purse and a sister, Lovina, were the only children in their father's family, his sister surviving him.

SAMUEL E. FERGUSON.

Stephen Ferguson, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Montgomery county, New York. When he was twelve years of age he moved to Galen, Wayne county, New York, where he served as a farm laborer until his majority, when he married Martha Campbell, and leased a farm in that county. Here Samuel was born, the fourth of ten children, July 10, 1831.

In 1839 the elder Ferguson moved with his family to Michigan, settling on section 1, in Addison, and cleared a farm in that locality. He took a lively in- terest in town matters, was somewhat of a politician, and held various offices, having been a justice of the peace for twenty years. He died highly esteemed in 1861.

The Ferguson family was not exempt from the hardships attending a pioneer life, and Samuel had to limit his school-days to the time afforded him, when his services were not needed on the farm or the wood-lot, making a clearing. He was

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MRS. CORNELIUS SNYDER.

CORNELIUS SNYDER

RESIDENCE OF CORNELIUS SNYDER , SEC. 28 ADDISON TP, OAKLAND CO., MICH.

( PHOTOS BY BENSON )

P. BREWER .

MRS. MARY BREWER.

"THE BREWER HOMESTEAD", RESIDENCE OF A. N. BREWER, SEC. 25, ADDISON TP., OAKLAND CO., MICH.

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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

thus engaged on his father's farm until he was of age, when he purchased a portion of the homestead and began life for himself.

In 1853 he married Mary C., daughter of E. W. Lawrence, of Lapeer county, and the year following moved on his farm. On the death of his father, in 1861, Samuel purchased the homestead, and has since resided there, erecting the build- ings and making the improvements shown elsewhere in this work. He has de- voted himself strictly to the interests of his calling, and has prospered, being now the owner of two hundred acres of land under a good state of cultivation.

The married life of Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson has been blessed with four children : Almira, born September 20, 1854, died August 22, 1863; Evert, born August 4, 1857 ; Lizzie, born February 1, 1866; Homer, born March 28, 1868.

Mr. Ferguson has served his town in various ways, and is now a justice of the peace. He is a worthy, unobtrusive citizen, and is a member of the Congrega- tional church at Almont, Michigan.

PETER BREWER.

Peter Brewer and Mary, his wife, late of the township of Addison, whose portraits are herewith given, may well be classed with the " pioneers" of Oak- land County. The father of the former, whose name was also Peter, was born in Holland, April 1, 1740, and at the age of twenty-one years came to America, landing in the city of New York, where he remained until 1767, when he married Elizabeth Stone, and soon after settled in Westchester county, where he resided until the beginning of the Revolutionery war, when he entered the army to assist in sustaining the independence of the colonies, which had been proclaimed by the patriot fathers. At the close of the war he settled in Dutchess county, where Peter Brewer, his son, was born, June 8, 1791, being the youngest but one of sixteen children. In 1795, Peter Brewer, Sr., removed with his family into Greene county, among the Catskill mountains, where he died in 1804, his wife surviving him until 1828.

In 1824, Peter Brewer, the subject of this sketch, married Mary Ternes, the daughter of John and Mary Ternes, who was born in the north of Ireland, April 16, 1804, and when three years of age came to America with her parents, who settled, and remained until she was about twenty years of age, in the city of New York, and then, with her father's family, moved into Greene county.

In the month of August, 1833, Peter Brewer and his wife Mary, with their family of four children, set out in search of a new home in the then almost unknown Territory of Michigan, coming from Catskill in a sloop, thence to Buffalo on the Erie canal in what was known as a "line-boat." They sailed from Buffalo for Detroit on board the steamer " New York," a comparatively new boat. On their arrival at Erie, Pennsylvania, the boat ran on a sand-bar, where it remained nearly three days, when the passengers were transferred to the "Su- perior," one of the first steamboats that sailed the lakes. Their journey from Catskill to Detroit occupied more than two weeks. They remained at the latter

place only a few hours, when they started out with two hired teams through the unbroken wilderness, over a road that was nearly impassable on account of mire and fallen trees. After a toilsome journey of three days they arrived at Elisha Townsend's, a brother-in-law, living in the township of Washington, Macomb county, twenty-eight miles from Detroit.

After remaining there a few days, they started for their new future home on section 36, in what is now known as the township of Addison, it being then un- organized as a separate township. At that time there were but few settlers in the township. There was a saw-mill at what is now the village of Lakeville, but no grist-mill nearer than Stony Creek, ten miles away. Neither were there any churches nor school-houses in the township, and the winding trail of the Indian was for some time the pioneer's only road. The wolf and deer, with other wild animals, were abundant, and none save the Indian contested their rights or dis- puted their jurisdiction.

Here these pioneers labored from year to year, suffering all the privations in- separable from a frontier life, until the log dwelling gave way to the beautiful white farm-house shown in the accompanying engraving, and the church and the school-building of the pale-face supplanted the wigwam of the savage.

On the 23d of September, 1866, beloved and respected by all, and surrounded by children and friends, after a short illness, this aged couple, within a few hours of each other, surrendered up their spirits to Him who gave them. They left five sons and four daughters : Addison P. Brewer, Ann E. Brewer, Peter W. Brewer, John A. Brewer, Abram N. Brewer, Mark S. Brewer, Mary L. Brewer, Lydia M. Brewer, and Sarah E. Brewer, all of whom have become men and women, and still live to love and cherish the memory of kind and indulgent parents.

CORNELIUS SELFRIDGE

was born in the town of Argyle, Washington county, New York, October 30, 1820, and lived at the place of his birth until he was twelve years of age, when his father removed his family to the town of Caledonia, Livingston county, where he afterwards died. At his father's death he was compelled to rely upon himself, and at an early age learned the trade of a blacksmith, at which he worked a portion of the time, and a portion he employed working on a farm by the month. In 1853 he removed from Caledonia to Le Roy, Genesee county, New York. In 1850 he married Miss Adelaide L. Kendall, of Le Roy. She was born in Massachusetts, February 8, 1825. He eventually removed from Genesee county to Michigan, and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land where he now lives. He owns, at present, a finely-improved farm of one hundred and eighty-five acres, a view of which is given in this work. Mr. Selfridge is a characteristic type of the class so prominent in the history of all new countries,-self-made men,-and does honor to the roll. His life happily illustrates the possibilities which lie in the path of every young man in America, if he will but rely upon his own good arm and determine that no ordinary obstacles shall prevent him from winning distinction in some respectable branch of human industry.

AVON TOWNSHIP.

THE division of Oakland County bearing the above name was until 1835 a part of the original town of Oakland, established June 28, 1820. At page 1420, third volume of the "Laws of Michigan Territory," appears the following :

" An act to organize the township of Avon, in the county of Oakland.

"SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michi- gan, That all that part of the county of Oakland comprised in surveyed township 3 north, range 11 east, be a township by the name of Avon, and the first town- ship-meeting be held at the place to which the township-meeting for the township of Oakland stands adjourned.

SECTION 2. That the township-meeting for the township of Oakland shall be holden at the new dwelling-house of William Snell, in said township, any law to the contrary notwithstanding.

"SECTION 3. That this act shall take effect and be in force on and after the first Monday of April next.

" Approved March 30, 1835."

In this township the first settlement in the county was made, and the reason is 17

unexplained why the name of Oakland was not retained here, where it properly belonged.

The surface of Avon is generally undulating, and along the streams rises to ele- vations worthy to be designated as hills. Notably is this the case in the vicinity of Rochester, and in the northeastern portion of the township, along Paint and Stony creeks. But a very small area of marshy or uncultivatable land is found, and, although in early years much of the land in the township was considered too poor to cultivate, a careful system of farming and the judicious use of fertilizers have so improved it that the bountiful returns amply repay the agriculturist for his outlay of labor and capital. Wheat is especially a good crop, while the various other grains, as well as the different fruits, yield abundantly.

The township is well watered by the Clinton river, Paint, Stony, Sargent's, Galloway's, and other creeks, and numerous smaller tributaries. The larger streams afford considerable power, which was utilized by the first settlers, and has been made to turn a number of mill-wheels since. Clinton river has had no less than six dams built across it within the boundaries of the township, and Paint and Stony

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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

creeks have also performed their share in furnishing motive power for numerous mills and manufactories. The latter stream, though small, is very rapid and con- stant, and several dams breast its waters within the distance of a mile and a half.

The southern portion of the township is more generally level, and was originally quite heavily timbered. A comparatively large area of timber is yet standing, and many trees from two to four feet through are seen. The varieties are elm, white-oak, basswood, sycamore, ash, maple, and others indigenous to the soil of this region. Wherever there is an extensive tract of timber the growth is luxuriant, and in these days of exemption from forest fires, the underbrush is usually thick and heavy.

The township contains the small village of Stony Creek and the incorporated village of Rochester, and had a population in 1874 of eighteen hundred and fifty- six.

The Detroit and Bay City railway crosses the northeast part, passing through the village of Rochester, and having within the township limits a length of about five miles. The first passenger train over this road arrived in Rochester some time in October, 1872. The survey of the Michigan Air-Line railway also passes across the township, following the valley of the Clinton river. Nothing further has been done on this line than surveying it.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

The first permanent settlement within the limits of Oakland County was made in this township in 1817, and here cluster many of the associations of pioneer life of that day.

The first white persons to settle in Avon township, or in Oakland County, were James Graham and his son Alexander, and Christopher Hartsough,* who, on the 17th of March, 1817 (St. Patrick's Day), arrived on the site of the present village of Rochester, and located on the bank of Paint creek. James Graham soon after removed to section 21, and " squatted" on a farm afterwards (spring of 1819) occupied by Dr. William Thompson. In early life old Mr. Graham resided near Tioga Point, on the Chemung branch of the Susquehanna river, in Pennsylvania. He afterwards removed to Oxford, in Upper Canada, and in 1816 emigrated to Macomb county, Michigan, where he settled at Mount Clemens, and stayed there until his final settlement in Avon.

The first entry of land in the township and county was made by John Hersey, on the 29th day of October, 1818, including the southeast quarter of section 10, now within the corporate limits of the village of Rochester, the price paid being two dollars per acre. Mr. Hersey also nominally entered the southwest quarter of the same section, but received no title for it, and, in the fall of 1819, it was taken by Messrs. William Russell and Benjamin Woodworth, the latter the pro- prietor of the old "Steamboat hotel" at Detroit. Russell was the only one of these two men who settled here. The latter parties also made the first entry in the present township of Oakland, in March, 1819.

In 1819 the following persons entered land in what is now Avon township, viz. : A. E. Wing, T. C. Sheldon, Solomon Sibley, James Abbott, Daniel Leroy, Alexander Graham, William Williams, J. Baldwin, D. Bronson, J. Myers, Ira Roberts, Nathaniel Baldwin, George Postal, Dr. William Thompson, John Mil- ler, and Isaac Willets. In 1821 land was entered by Cyrus A. Chipman and Frederick A. Sprague; in 1822, by Champlin Green, Gad Norton, William Bur- bank, and Smith Weeks.

~ " At the opening of the land-offices in Michigan the public lands were offered at auction. Such as were not sold were subject to sale to individuals at two dol- lars an acre, one-fourth to be paid down, the remainder in one, two, and three years, with interest. All the lands which were entered previous to the 3d day of July, 1820, were purchased under this act.

"On the 23d day of April, 1820, Congress passed an act authorizing the sale of public lands at one dollar and a quarter an acre, payments in full at the time of the purchase." +

The passage of the act establishing the price of public lands at one dollar and a quarter an acre was followed by a large immigration into Michigan, and the fact that after settlers had paid their money they were in no danger of losing their property from inability to pay a balance caused a wide-spread feeling of relief. They be- came owners at once of homesteads, and, although times might be so hard that it was difficult to secure a good living, yet the conviction that they possessed homes led the pioneers of the land to plod on perseveringly in the wilderness, and they succeeded in erecting a proud inheritance for their children, and most of them passed the latter part of their lives in comparative ease after years of toil and privation.

An old settler gives the following list of persons living in Avon township in

1821, according to his recollection : Hon. Daniel Leroy, Francis Leroy, Robert Leroy, Hon. Daniel Bronson, William Bronson, Hon. Mr. Davis, William Wood (blacksmith), John Hersey, James A. Hersey, George Hersey, Obadiah Murray, John Sargent, Dr. William Thompson, Captain John Miller, George Postal, Sr., George Postal, Jr., Elisha Postal, William Postal, Mr. Secord, Ebenezer McCoy, James Graham, Alexander Graham, Benjamin Graham, John Wilson, Sr., John. Wilson, Jr., Stephen Wilson, William Russell, Nathan Fowler, Sr., Nathan Fow- ler, Jr., Daniel Fowler, Samuel Fowler, Thomas Sturgess, Benjamin Sturgess, Moses Olmstead, Salmon Olmstead, James Ellison, Gideon Ellison, Jonathan Perrin, David Perrin, Samuel Beeman, Ira Roberts, Hon. Roger Sprague, Walter Sprague, Frederick A. Sprague, Roger Sprague, Jr., Asahel Sprague, George W. Sprague, Thomas Sprague, Cyrus Chipman, M.D., Cyrus A. Chipman, Samuel F. Chipman, John M. Chipman, William F. Chipman, George A. Chipman, Daniel C. Chipman, Linus Cone.

Of these many are now deceased, others have removed to different localities, and but a comparatively small number are left in the township to tell to the seeker after historic lore the " tales of other days."

George Postal, Sr., from Canandaigua, Ontario county, New York, settled, with his wife and seven children,-four sons and three daughters,-on section 20 in 1818 .¿ One son was born after the settlement, and of the eight children but four are living,-three in Oakland County (George and two sisters) and one son in Macomb. Mr. Postal entered one hundred and sixty acres of land, for which he paid at the rate of two dollars per acre. He died on the old place at the age of seventy-two years.

When they came into Oakland County they passed up the Detroit river and Lake St. Clair to the mouth of the Clinton river, thence up that stream to Mount Clemens, Macomb county, then across the country to Utica, and finally to their new home in Avon. The trip was made in this manner, as there were no roads running any distance out of Detroit at that time. On arriving at the spot destined to be his future abiding-place, Mr. Postal built a log house, eighteen by twenty- four feet in dimensions, floored with split basswood logs. It was quite a respect- able house for the time, although the roof, which was made of white-elm bark, soon began to give evidence that it could not withstand the beating of the rain, and the consequence was, articles in the house could be kept but little dryer in a storm than they would have been if exposed completely.

About 1825, Mr. Postal erected a saw-mill on his place, the power being fur- nished by the Clinton river, and a number of years afterwards his son, Charles Postal, built a grist-mill near by.

Sawm

George Postal, Jr., now residing on section 29, is the earliest settler at present living in the township. Although but a lad when his parents moved to the town, he is now a man well advanced in years, having reached the age of seventy-one (born February 2, 1806), and has passed nearly sixty years of his life in the neighborhood where he lives. He has occupied his present farm since about 1828, and witnessed since his settlement here the wonderful transformation which has been made in the aspect of the country. His first wife was a sister to James A. Weeks, present secretary of the Oakland County Pioneer Association. George Postal, Sr., was a carpenter by trade, and is said to have built the first frame dwelling in the county, at Pontiac.

Dr. William Thompson located in Avon in the spring of 1819, and made some improvements on the farm now owned by P. Lomason, section 8, but finally settled on section 21, where James Graham had "squatted," in 1817. He some time afterwards sold his property to Levi Leroy. Daniel Leroy had settled in the spring of 1819, but Levi did not arrive until considerably later. In 1820, Dr. Thompson built the first frame barn in the township. Another frame barn in the southwest part of the town, built some time later, was struck by lightning and partially destroyed. The place it was on was at the time occupied by one Dr. Bradley, a teacher in the early schools.

The vicinity of Auburn, Cayuga county, New York, furnished a large number of people who settled in Oakland County, many of them locating in the township of Troy. Aaron Webster, Sr., from Aurelius, near Auburn, settled in Troy in 1820,§ on section 6. He was accompanied by his wife and seven children,-four sons and three daughters. They lived in Troy about two years, and then removed to Auburn, Pontiac township, where, in 1823, he built a saw-mill, and was pre- paring also to build a grist-mill, but died in August of that year, before completing the latter.

Aaron Webster, Jr., purchased the place where he now resides, on section 35, Avon, about 1839. About 1842, he built a blacksmith-shop on the northwest corner of the section, where the stone shop now stands. It was the first one at the place, and was largely patronized.

# Spelled by some Hartsaw.

t From an article by the late Hon. Thomas J. Drake.

# Authority of George Postal, now living on section 29. Judge Drake stated that Mr. Postal entered his land in 1819, therefore we give both authorities.

¿ Other authorities place this date at 1821.

ROLLIN SPRAGUE.

MRS. A. L. SPRAGUE .

RESIDENCE OF MRS. A. L. SPRAGUE, ROCHESTER, (AVON TP.) OAKLAND CO., MICH

. MRS. JOHN KINNEY.

RESIDENCE OF THE LATE JNO. KINNEY, AVON, OAKLAND CO., MICH .

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

131

The following extract from a letter written by William Bronson, from Califor- nia, March 11, 1875, to Dr. F. M. Wilcox, of Rochester, will prove interesting, as Mr. B. had lived over half a century in Avon :

"I was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, November 23, 1793. My father, Daniel Bronson, moved to the Genesee country and settled in East Bloom- field February 15, 1794, and moved from thence, in 1818, to Michigan, by sleighing, and located in Avon, Oakland County, before the county was organ- ized, on section 24, township 3 north, range 11 east, where he lived and died. I lived in Michigan fifty-five years. I crossed the plains and Rocky mountains in 1853, in five months, with my son Marion ; returned in 1854, by water, in twenty- three days, to New York ; went to California, by rail, in 1873, in seven days, having been absent twenty years and twenty days. Three of my boys are in California, one in Oregon."

Mr. Bronson's last journey to California was made when he was eighty years of age, and was quite beneficial in partially restoring him to good health, he having been afflicted for some time.

The following article, from the pen of Cyrus A. Chipman, is given as it was published in the Rochester Era in 1876, and is a truthful and vivid description of the trials and incidents attendant upon the life of the early pioneers. It will refresh the memory of the gray-haired men who experienced them, and illustrate accurately to the younger people the hardships their sires and grandsires found it necessary to brave in order to erect homes for themselves and their families in the " howling wilderness."

" In 1821 a company of six or seven of us left Ontario county. New York, for Michigan, to look at the country, with the view of finding a new home for the families belonging to several of the parties.

" At Black Rock we shipped aboard of the old ' Walk-in-the-Water,' the first steamboat ever built on Lake Erie, commanded by Captain Sherman, and which was wrecked in November of the same year. The party consisted of the fol- lowing-named persons : Roger Sprague, Sr., Dr. Cyrus Chipman, Gideon Gates, Asahel Bailey, Alanson Weston, Richmond Pitts, Walter Sprague, and Cyrus A. Chipman. On reaching Lower Sandusky we were joined by my brother-in-law, Jaques Hulburd. There we procured horses for two of the oldest men of the party, and most of the company proceeded by boat to Detroit. Mr. Hulburd, Mr. Pitts, and myself took the horses and came by land through the Black swamp by a rather blind bridle-path, the horses being obliged to jump logs sometimes half as high as their backs.

" We reached Fort Meigs, on the Maumee river, about dark, and stayed over- night at a small settlement at the foot of the rapids of the river, and in two days more reached Detroit, and found the rest of our company all safe and in good spirits. Here we were joined by others, which made up a company of eleven,- a man by the name of Hill, and one by the name of Le Verity, a Frenchman, whom we engaged as guide and cook.

. " At Detroit we laid in a stock of provisions, and hired a man and his team to take us to the Flint river, where the city of Flint now stands. Only one wagon had been through before. The Campaus of Detroit had built a trading-house there for the purpose of traffic with the Indians. We stayed in Pontiac the first night from Detroit, and reached Flint on the third day out. For about two weeks, up to this time, the weather had been dry and pleasant, but the rains now set in, and we had a very wet time. We went a little way up the river, and felled a large pine-tree, and dug out a canoe large enough to carry four men and our provision-chest, which was started down the river for Saginaw, with directions to the men to stop at Reaum village, an Indian settlement, about sixteen miles by land from our camp on the river, and wait for us until we came up with them. We started the next morning, expecting to reach there by noon, but it had rained hard all night, and some of the small creeks were so much swollen that we had to swim our horses over, and fell some trees to cross on ourselves, which so delayed us that we did not reach the place until night, but to our great disappointment the men with the canoes and provisions had passed on without waiting for us. Here we were, in a fix ; we had eaten our breakfast at Flint, and had had no dinner, and with a certainty we should get nothing to eat until we reached Sag- inaw the next night. We were obliged to stay with the Indians that night. They were very kind and friendly, and cleaned out an old wigwam, and laid down some fresh barks for a floor, and roasted and pounded some corn, and seasoned it with bear's grease. Little of it did we eat. We fought the musical mosquito all night, and the next morning we bought of the Indians one canoe and hired another, which were sufficient to carry the whole party. We proceeded down the river, sometimes browsing on the tender twigs of the basswood which hung over the stream.

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History of Oakland County, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories, Part 28

Author: Durant, Samuel W Publication date: 1877 Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts & co. Number of Pages: 553

Author: Durant, Samuel W
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia, L. H. Everts & co.
Number of Pages: 553