History of Oakland County, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories, Part 29

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 29

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" About four o'clock P.M. we came to Saginaw, glad to find the men with the provisions all safe. We had been about thirty-six hours without food ; our dinner relished well."

" One night while encamped at Flint a rattlesnake found its way into our tent, which soon made a scattering among the inmates. His snakeship was soon dis- patched and consigned to the flames.

" We examined the country about the Saginaw river, and concluded it was too low and wet for farming purposes, and probably would be sickly, which proved to be the case. When government undertook to establish a garrison there they were obliged to withdraw it on that account.

" Our French cook and guide was not of much service to us as cook. He would often scratch his head with the knife he was eating with. We thought this would hardly do for Yankees, and one of the party was substituted in his place.

" While at Saginaw it rained almost constantly, until it produced quite a flood. Large trees were often seen floating down the river, which had been torn up by the waters above. Above the mouth of the Titabawassee the prairie on both sides of the river presented the appearance of a large lake. The wild rice, which stood some eight or ten feet high when we went down, had now disappeared.

" We now concluded to return to Detroit. Campau, who had a trading-house also at Saginaw, had a large quantity of Indian sugar which he wished to send to Detroit, so a part of the company, with our French guide, loaded a barge with the sugar and went by the way of Saginaw bay and Lake Huron. Three of us took the canoe we had hired at the Indian village, and an Indian for a guide, and started into the mouth of a small creek ; following that up a little way, we struck off by marked trees, the water standing up as high as the marks on the trees. Thus we went nine miles through heavy-timbered land, and struck the Flint by a much shorter route than following the river. We made land about forty rods from the river, and had to draw our canoe over and launch it again in the stream. We had hung our portmanteau containing our provisions on a pole of an Indian wigwam while we were hauling over the land; when we came to examine it we found the Indians had stolen all our provisions. We had eaten nothing since morning. and might not get anything to eat until the next afternoon. We rowed on up the river until we found an open spot on the banks, where we pitched our tent for the night.

" We had encountered a heavy thunder-shower coming through the woods. We were as thoroughly drenched as though we had been in the river ; our blankets as wet as we were.

" We built a large fire at the mouth of the tent to keep the mosquitoes out, and lay down in our wet clothes and wet blankets, none the better for it the next morning. We found our horses at Reaum village, where we left them on our way down. We reached Campau's trading-house on the Flint some time in the afternoon, having again gone nearly thirty-six hours without food. In two days more we reached Detroit. The balance of our company not having yet arrived, we took a trip west as far as the river Huron, where now stands the city of Ypsilanti. At that time there was but one house west of Dearborn. We returned to the city the next day, and glad to find the balance of the company all safe. We then took a trip north by the way of Mount Clemens, and followed up the Clinton to Utica. There was then living near where the village now stands a family by the name of Huntley, another by the name of Scott, and another by the name of Squires, whose son is now living just below the town. A few miles north, we came to Job Hoxey, who was somewhat notorious in the time of Jefferson's em- bargo in running a boat called the 'Black-Snake' to escape the revenue officers. He was a squatter on Uncle Sammy's land, and had made a small opening, and was raising some vegetables. The land was bought from under him soon after by Mr. George Wilson, who lived on it until a few months since, when he deceased. We went as far north as Romeo. I liked the land west of what is now the main street of the village, but my father thought there was too little timber, and we returned to Detroit without selecting any land. On his return to Detroit my father passed through here and was quite pleased with the land, but we made no purchase then.

" We returned to New York, and about the last of August my father with his family of eleven children left our native home for Michigan, arriving in De- troit the first week in September. I came with my father out here to see the land, and on our return to Detroit purchased the southwest quarter of section 26, town 3 north, range 11 east, on which I have lived ever since. There were then where Rochester now is two houses occupied, besides a vacant one into which we moved in a few days. There were two boys of us able to do a man's work, and some smaller ones could help some, and a hired man, who came through Canada with several cows, one of which, after being landed on the Canada shore, not well pleased with his majesty's dominions, walked a distance up the river at Lewiston, plunged into the stream, and swam safely across to the United States again. The boat returned and brought her back again, with the assurance she should see the United States once more. The cows were wintered well on bass- wood browse and a little corn. The man was Mr. Champlin Green, now living in Farmington, in this county,-a genial companion, who did much to enliven the

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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

dull hours of the first year in Michigan. We immediately built a shanty on our new place, and soon had logs cut for a house. We would take our provisions from Rochester sufficient for a few days, and sleep in our shanty nights. Moon- light evenings we would go out and fell large trees for the fun of the great noise they would make in a still night. By the next summer we had nearly thirty acres cleared ready for summer crops and wheat in the fall. From that we raised provisions enough for our own use.

" At a meeting of pioneers of Oakland County a short time since, one gentle- man stated that he came to this county in 1830, and that there were then but three houses in Pontiac. Either he or the printer was at fault, for there were as many as three houses there in 1821, and in 1830 it was quite a flourishing village ; being the county-seat, it could not have stood still for nine years. It is now a respectable city. At the time of my coming here the following persons were living in this town,-viz., Dr. William Thompson, Daniel Leroy, Judge Bronson, Wil- liam Bronson, John Hersey, Nathan Perrin, Samuel Beeman, Nathan Fowler, Samuel Fowler, Thomas Sturgess, George Postal, Roger Sprague, and Solomon Olmstead. Mr. William Bronson, son of Judge Bronson, Daniel Fowler, and George Postal are still living in this town .* Gideon Gates and Asahel Bailey late in the same autumn settled at Romeo. Mr. Hill, of our party that went to Saginaw, and myself are the only surviving members of the company.

" There were in the county at this time of those I can now remember, besides those mentioned above, Aaron and Joel Wellman and their father, Erastus Fer- guson, Diodate Hubbard, Ezra Baldwin, Dr. and Tilea (?) and Elias Swan, Amaza Bagley, William Morris, Judah Church, Dr. Olmsted Chamberlin, Orson Allen, Colonel Hotchkiss, Oliver Williams, Alpheus Williams, and Archibald Phillips, and maybe several other individuals I do not now remember."

Cyrus Chipman, M.D., was the second physician in Avon township, and a prac- titioner under the old allopathic school of medicine. He was nearly sixty years of age when he settled here, and only practiced from necessity. Thaddeus Thomp- son, M.D., a brother of Dr. William Thompson, settled not long afterwards in Troy township, and Dr. Chipman resigned his practice to him.

The Chipman family, at the time of its settlement in Avon, consisted of the doctor and his wife and ten children,-six sons and four daughters,-while two other children stayed in New York. Dr. Chipman died in 1840, four years after the death of his wife.

Cyrus A. Chipman was married in 1828 to Mary Lawson, a resident of Ma- comb county, Michigan, where she located with her parents in 1827. She was a native of the State of New Jersey. Her death occurred in March, 1876.

Hon. Roger Sprague was born at Lebanon, Connecticut, in 1769, and in 1791, when twenty-two years of age, walked to the "Genesee country," New York, carrying his necessary provisions, clothing, etc., on his back, and settled in the town of East Bloomfield, Ontario county, becoming one of the first settlers in that region. He was married in the town he settled in, and became the father of eight children, seven sons and one daughter, all born in New York. He was sheriff of Ontario county for seven years at an early period, nearly the whole of western New York being included in his field of operations. The auction sale of the lands in the " Holland purchase" was held at his house, and Aaron Burr came all the way from New York city on horseback to bid them in. Sprague made out the deeds to purchasers, and after his settlement in Michigan frequent application was made to him for testimony regarding the sale and the parties who purchased.

Mr. Sprague was a member of the legislature of the State of New York at the time of the passage of the bill authorizing the construction of the Erie canal, probably in 1816-17, as the canal was begun in 1817 and finished in 1825. In 1820 he visited Michigan, looking for land, and finally purchased on sections 26 and 27, in what is now Avon township, Oakland County. In August, 1821, he moved his family and located with them on section 27. A small shanty was at first erected, in which they lived until the fall of the same year, when a log house twenty feet square was built, and occupied by them. Of Mr. Sprague's children but three (sons) are now living. He passed from life in July, 1848, sincerely mourned by a large circle of acquaintances and friends. His wife died on the old place, in Avon, in 1827, and was buried in the garden, being the first of about twenty persons there interred.

Mr. Sprague was a member of the first legislative council of the Territory of Michigan, in 1823, and was elected to the council several times afterwards. While a resident of Ontario county, New York, he was elected judge of the county courts, and his memory is preserved to those who knew him by his title of "judge." His son, Roger Sprague, Jr., located on the place where he is now living, section 23, Avon, about 1830, and made the first improvements upon it. Another son, Thomas Sprague, has been a resident of California for thirty years,

and the other son now living, Asahel Sprague, resides in Avon township. Judge Sprague's old place is now occupied by his grandson, Edward N. Sprague, son of R. Sprague, Jr.

Linus Cone, who settled in the county in 1821, emigrated with his parents from Durham, Connecticut, at an early date, and settled in Bloomfield, New York (Ontario county). He was one of six children who accompanied their parents to New York at that time. When but seventeen years of age, Mr. Cone started with ten dollars in his pocket, on foot and alone, for the "great west." He stopped one year at Port Stanley, and six months at St. Thomas, in Canada ; and in November, 1821, started with a stout heart and a fortune of eight dollars for Michigan, arriving in Troy township, Oakland County, the last day of that month. He first settled land in that town, and after a year or two traded it for the place in Avon where his son, Frederick Cone, now lives. Mr. Cone was one of the most successful farmers in Michigan, and his experience was remarkable, inasmuch as he cut the first timber and made the first improvements on his farm, and lived long enough upon it to see it made the best regulated and finest im- proved farm anywhere in his locality. His articles published in the columns of the old Michigan Farmer, and subsequently in the Genesee Farmer, also in the early numbers of the Rural New Yorker, were standard authority on the subjects they treated regarding agricultural matters.

Among the early pioneers of Avon, the name of Colonel John Frank must not be overlooked. He emigrated from the State of Vermont in April, 1823, and purchased government land in this township. In December of the same year he was married to Arabella Chipman, daughter of Dr. Cyrus Chipman, and be- came the father of eleven children. His wife died in 1847, and on the 1st of March, 1849, he was married to Adelaide Kettle, of Troy township. Of those who were his townsmen and neighbors when he first came here, but few are now living.

The following article was written by Christian Z. Horton, an old settler of Avon, in 1874, and is preserved in the records of the Oakland County Pioneer Association :

" It having been suggested that a history of the pioneers of Michigan would be interesting to many of the citizens of Oakland County, I thought I would give a history of the events of the immigrating of my father's family to this county, in the year 1825, as my father was the principal actor in bringing the number of persons comprising the company to this (then) Territory. The com- pany consisted of the following heads of families, namely : George Horton, the father of the principal actor, wife, and daughter; Cornelius Decker, wife, and four children ; a brother-in-law, Robert Crawford, wife, and five children, among which was the now Rev. Riley C. Crawford, chaplain of the State prison at Jackson ; Benjamin Horton, wife, and six children ; together with two hired men, named respectively Calvin Chapel and Truman Burgess. There were also three teamsters employed, who returned, named Squire Johnson, Isaac Vansickles, his son James, and one Benjamin Doan, who remained some three or four months and returned. The company consisted of thirty persons, with four wagons, eight yoke of oxen, one yoke of steers, eight cows, four head of young cattle, one horse, fourteen sheep, and eight swine.

" We left South Yarmouth, Elgin county, Ontario, on the 25th of February, 1825. On the first day we arrived beyond what was called the ' Five Stakes,' in Westminster, at one Lyon's, a log inn. There an incident occurred, which was this: As we approached near the inn a horn was blown with much vigor ; it was for Mr. Lyon, who was engaged in his sugar-bush, to return to his house, not because of the company coming, but upon the account of his hired girl, who, -although unmarried, was about to become a mother,-all of which passed off quite satisfactorily. On the 26th, after proceeding a mile or two farther, traded dogs ! At night we arrived at ' Brigham's,' on the Thames, at Delaware, and immediately commenced crossing the river. Our company here divided for the evening's accommodations to one Allen's, opposite. On the 27th several teams that assisted returned. An incident occurred with one of the swine, which, after being ferried across the river, determined not to proceed farther, and rushed into the river and swam nearly across : was driven back, and Burgess, endeavoring to catch him to prevent another rush, got bit on the wrist, when some of the men tapped him on the head and settled him.t His remains were left to enrich the Dominion. We proceeded on, and, after passing the burial-grounds of the Moravian Indians, arrived at ' Ward's.'

"During the night it rained some: misty and quite mild. The 28th, proceeded to ' Aljoe's,' seven miles in the 'long woods.' March 1, proceeded on our weary journey some nineteen miles to a French inn, 'Shepherd's,' near Chatham, on the opposite side of the river. On the morning of the 2d there were some two or three inches of snow. We proceeded, and arrived at ' Wilcox's,' at the mouth

* See letter of Mr. Bronson in another place.

+ It was the "porker" that was " settled," and not Burgess.

MRS. JOSHUA VANHOOSEN.

JOSHUA VANHOOSEN.

RESIDENCE OF JOSHUA VANHOOSEN, STONY CREEK, AVON TP, OAKLAND CO., - MICHIGAN. -

MRS.R. BENNETT.

J. M.WILCOX.

MRS. J. M. WILCOX.

RESIDENCE OF J. M . WILCOX, AVON TP., OAKLAND CO, MICH.

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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

of the Thames, having concluded the forty miles' travel through the long woods this day, although fain we were out of sight of timber. Remained over the 3d, it being the Sabbath. On the morning of the 4th we resumed our journey along the shore of Lake St. Clair. The lake was very low, in places being nearly a mile to the water. A countless number of wild geese could be seen flying, and swimming in the lake, and also ducks were numerous. We drove most of the way on the beach, for the reason that the road was rutted by the vehicles of the French, not being as wide as ours, and they using one beast, and, if more, it was attached in front, never by the side. Here it made hard work for our teams, making ninety-five miles (?). Arrived at ' Levallus' inn, nine miles from Windsor. On the 5th arrived at Windsor, and immediately com- menced crossing Detroit river. The river was so low that for several rods the scows had to be drawn by teams, and wagons driven into the river to receive the goods. In unloading and loading the scows in Windsor, men had to stand to their waists in water to assist in loading and pushing off the scows. Here father lost a silver watch worth then thirty dollars, supposed to have been drawn from his pocket in assisting loading. We finished crossing on the 6th, and our goods were seized by the Hon. Warren Wing, assistant custom-house officer of Detroit, which cost us, I think, thirty dollars to be sent on our way rejoicing towards our new home in Michigan. Besides, my youngest brother, Hugh A., a babe of one and a half years, being quite sick, we put up at one ' Holly's' hotel. It stood between Woodbridge street and the river, east side Woodward avenue, a frame building. The proprietor was a brother-in-law of the late Charles C. Hascall, of Flint. The weather was fair and quite warm during our crossing the river. In crossing, Squire Johnson caught me after we passed the centre of the river and ducked my head in the water, he said to baptize me and make an American citizen of me. On the 7th we proceeded on our first travel in Michigan. The rain, which had fallen on the 27th, and 4th of March, having been quite heavy, the frost had come out of the ground in many places, especially in low, swampy ground, and streams were overflown with water. Our wagons would at times sink to the hubs. Some five miles out from Detroit we passed old ' Mother Handsome's,' known by most of the immigrants coming in northern Michigan .* After leaving Mother Handsome's a short distance our road meandered west of the turnpike or gravel road, and in the travel we passed the residence of one Flinn, an old acquaint- ance of father's; thence to Royal Oak, when it commenced to rain. We con- tinued on, and arrived at David Crawford's residence, corner of west half south- west quarter section 33. Here was the destination of Robert Crawford, who settled on the north half of said quarter section, beside his father. On the 8th we left Mr. Crawford's and proceeded, passing the residences of Josiah Alger, southeast quarter section 32, and one Parks, son-in-law of Alger, northeast quarter section 32, Ira Toms, on southeast quarter section 28, William Stanley, northeast quarter section 29, Riley Crooks, northeast quarter section 20, Jones, northeast quarter section 21, Murray on the southwest quarter of section 9, and Silas Sprague on southwest quarter section 4. These are all the residences I remember. Passing through the town of Troy, on the southwest quarter of section 33, in Avon, Walter Sprague and Linus Cone's residences were passed; then we mean- dered through this section 33, passing the residence of Henry Vannatter, crossing the north line near the (present) residence of Albert Terry. Nathan Fowler's residence and blacksmith-shop were to the left, on southeast quarter of section 28, near to Terry's.

" Our road continued to cross the east line of section 28 and west line of 27, some sixty rods north of the section corner opposite the dwelling of one Secord. We continued to William Burbank's residence, about one hundred rods east of the northwest corner of section 27,-our place of destination. Mr. Burbank, having heard of our coming, met us near the residence of Mr. Secord. On Mon- day, the 10th, Johnson Vansickles and son started on their return home. Grand- father and Uncle Decker and their families settled on the southeast quarter of section 21, and my father, Benjamin Horton, on southeast quarter section 22, on the 12th day of March, 1825. Our immediate neighbors were as follows : On southwest quarter section 23, Nathaniel Baldwin ; northwest quarter section 23, Ira Roberts ; east half northeast quarter section 27, Roger Sprague, Sr .; south- west quarter section 26, Cyrus Chipman, M.D .; southeast quarter section 27, Jonathan Perrin ; northwest quarter section 35, Morris M. Anderson and Cham- plin Green ; southwest quarter section 35, James Green ; northeast quarter sec- tion 34, Samuel Beeman ; southeast quarter section 26, John Frank ; southwest quarter section 28, James Graham ; northwest quarter section 28, John Wilson ; northwest quarter section 22, Stephen Shippy ; southwest quarter section 15, Alex- ander Graham ; on section 13, John Sheldon ; east half northwest quarter section 24, Daniel Brownson ; Mr. Ferrington, on northwest quarter section 15; John Hersey, southeast quarter section 10, with his family of several children ; and sev-

eral others, whose names I have forgotten. Among them was a Mr. Wood, a blacksmith, who was also a bell-maker. He made a bell, and bet ten dollars it could be heard all the way to Pontiac. The bet was taken. He borrowed a pony, tied the bell to the pony's neck, and got a man to go with him, and went to Pontiac, and returned and claimed the bet.

" Mr. Hersey erected in his saw-mill a run of stone for grinding grain, and bolted the same by hand, and also a mill for swingling flax, which proved a failure.

"On the west half, southwest quarter section 9, John Sargent resided ; on northeast quarter section 15, Gad Norton, Esq., owned and ran a saw-mill; and on the northwest quarter of section 14 Colonel Stephen Mack owned a grist-mill, a man by the name of Ruby having charge of the same. There were many tran- sient persons at work around, whose names I have forgotten. In Stony Creek and vicinity were Lemuel Taylor, Joshua B. Taylor, Elisha Taylor, and their father, also Nathaniel Millerd, Levi W. Cole, William Price, Eleazar Millerd, one Comstock, who kept a small store, Craig Parmenter, Bellows, and Thorpe, and many others whose names I have forgotten."

The settlers, for a number of years after the first arrivals, were subjected to trials innumerable, the roads not yet being in good condition, and accommodations for man and beast extremely meagre. Illustrative of the time fourteen years after the first settlement was made in the county, we give the following

EXPERIENCE OF JONATHAN PIXLEY, OF AVON.

" I was born A.D. 1799, in the township and county of Tioga, in the State of New York. I lived there until March, 1823, when, with my family, I moved to Monroe county, western New York. I lived there eight years, when, in company with my late brother David, I emigrated to Michigan. We started from Brock- port, on the Erie canal, on Thursday, the 12th day of May, 1831, and arrived in Buffalo the Saturday following. We stayed there until Monday morning, when we shipped on board the steamer ' William Penn.' After a very rough voyage, we arrived at Detroit on the 20th, at about four o'clock P.M. We put up at the 'Old Yankee Boarding-House.' After getting my family stowed away, I went down to the dock to see to my ' old traps.' This done, I came to the tavern about . twelve, midnight. I had some trouble to find my family, but after a while found one of my children in a ' field bed' on the floor. I asked where the rest of them were, and they told me they did not know, but they were there somewhere. As I did not wish to disturb them further, I camped down on the floor, with my clothes on, and lay quiet until morning. There was then a general rush. The house was jammed full of emigrants, and such snarling among the children I never heard before. After breakfast I put out to find a yoke of oxen. I soon found some for sixty-five dollars. Went to a shop, and bought a yoke for them, and driving down to the dock, hitched them to my wagon; put on a few things, drove up to the tavern, put my family on board, and started for Oakland.

" The mud was hub deep, and I had to walk by my oxen's heads, for I did not know what caper they might cut up. We came to what is now called ' Four- Mile House' the first night. Just before reaching this place we had to drive over a large whitewood tree that had fallen across the road. I knew that my oxen could not jump over the log while they were hitched to the wagon, so, driv- ing as near as I could, I unhitched them and made them jump over; then hitching the chain to the end of the tongue of the wagon, soon pulled it over. We stayed here all night, and but little sleep did we get, for the mosquitoes were determined to have one fill. The next morning the landlord came to my room and told me that there was a man who wished to see me; I hurried out, and behold it was Linus Cone. He came there some time in the night, on his way to Detroit. The landlord told him that there was an immigrant there who was moving to Rochester. He wished to bring back a load of goods, and wanted fifty cents per hundred. I thought this a big price; he said I would not think so by the time I got there. I gave him an order for my goods, and made up my mind it was cheap enough. We started for this place soon after breakfast, with two or three other teams in company, for Royal Oak. At noon we arrived at a place then called ' Mother Handsome's;' took dinner there, but had nothing for my oxen. I told the old lady that we were not very hungry, but wanted a good cup of tea. She said, 'By G -! you shall have it!' We got it, and so strong I did not know whether it was herb tea or what. After dinner we started from there, and farther on came to Chase's Corners, on the Crooks road, where, seeing a good bite of grass in Mr. Chase's garden, he let me turn my oxen in to bait. They ate up what there was in a hurry. I bought a bushel of potatoes, and started on. Our next stopping-place was at Mrs. Guy Phelps', in Troy. It being Saturday night we stayed there until Monday morning, when we took an early start for our home. Got as far as Benjamin Horton's by noon, where we took dinner, after which we resumed our journey and arrived at our present home, on the northeast quarter of section 23, then the township of Oakland, now Avon, on the 23d day of May. Nothing occurred during the summer worthy of note until the 12th of Septem-

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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 29

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