History of Oakland County, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories, Part 30

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 30

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

# Southern Michigan must be meant.

134

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

ber. when all but myself were taken sick with typhoid fever. This was a great drawback for us, but I had good and kind neighbors, for which I shall always be thankful. My neighbors east of me were old Mr. John Sheldon, Daniel and William Bronson, and Asa B. Underwood; on the west, Ira Roberts, Nathaniel and Augustus Baldwin, Benjamin Horton, J. F. Hamlin, Judge Sprague, Ebe- nezer Knight, and Mr. Shippey. These were all in a circle of three or four miles. Now they are all gone or dead but one, and he is in California,-Mr. William Bronson. Rochester had just begun to bud, and never got into full bloom until July 4, 1872. There are but six now living that were citizens when I came here -Esquire Mack and wife, S. Newberry, L. J. Wilcox, William Burbank, and Mrs. F. A. Brooks .*

" In conclusion I would say, beside being very homesick the first season I had to work out by the day for bread for myself and family of eight. My exertions to get out of debt were in vain, for at the end of the first year I was fifty dollars in debt. This debt I contrived to pay the following year. Now I have a good farm of one hundred and fifty acres, free from debt. According to my record I am seventy-four years of age, my birthday being the 10th day of last September.t Have lived in Michigan just forty-three years last May; have raised a family of thirteen children.

. P.S .- After I got settled down I stuck my stake and made a resolve that, if Providence would permit, I would have a good farm here and comfortable buildings, if hard work would do it; but when I was taken sick I began to think I should not accomplish it, but I was pretty gritty, and worked night and day to bring it about. I cut wood daytimes and hauled it nights, and sold it for sev- enty-five cents per cord, and store-pay at that, and, as the Queen of Sheba said to King Solomon, ' the half has not been told;" and further this deponent sayeth not."

George Hopkinson, a native of Westmoreland, Oneida county, New York, came to Pontiac in 1831 and located eighty acres of government land in what is now Avon township ; returned to Palmyra, New York, and worked for means to remove his family, which he accomplished in 1842, and has resided here ever since. He chopped wood in Wayne county, New York, receiving pay at the rate of eighteen cents per cord, and by this means raised sufficient money to pay for the land mentioned. During the summer season he cut grass with a scythe for fifty cents per acre, and boarded himself.

It was by such determination of purpose and rigid self-denial that a large number of people became at last enabled to purchase homes for themselves in the west, and they knew " no such word as fail." Their success has been complete, as the rich appearance of the country to-day indicates. The characteristics of the pioneers of Avon, as well as those of the entire west, were, like those of their fathers before them, marked by one universal feature,-that of a determination to win in even the hardest undertaking.

Adam Manwaring, whose death occurred April 17, 1874, when he had reached the advanced age of ninety-two years, was born in the State of New Jersey, in the year 1782, and distinctly remembered seeing General Washington a number of years afterwards, at Burlington, New Jersey. In 1836 he emigrated from New Jersey and settled in this township, where he resided until his death. He voted at every presidential election from Thomas Jefferson to General Grant's second term. and was greatly esteemed by all who knew him.

Cyrus A. Chipman, previously mentioned, in 1826 or 1827 brought about seventy sheep from the State of New York, which had been left there when the family moved west in 1821. To secure them from the wolves at night he built a pen about eight feet high of rails laid snug together, in which they were in- closed. One morning when he went out to release them from the inclosure he discovered that the wolves had killed about forty sheep and lambs. The balance of the flock was destroyed in the course of a couple of years.

Such experience as this taught the early settlers the necessity of waiting until the country was more thickly populated and the wild animals exterminated, be- fore attempting to do much in the way of raising sheep. The drawbacks were finally removed, and Oakland County has now a wide reputation for the quantity and quality of its wool products.

The following names appear among the early settlers of the township : John Sargent, settled in 1819, helped build the Hersey saw-mill at Rochester; Jacob and Michael Van Wagoner settled in 1823, with their father, Michael Van Wag- oner, Sr.,-the latter died a year or two afterwards ; Captain John Miller, a sol- dier of 1812, settled in 1819 ; he and his brother were proprietors of a boat which plied at an early day between Detroit and Mount Clemens; John Miller was acptain of the boat,-hence his title; he married Eunice, daughter of Lemuel Taylor, Sr., and lived three miles northwest of Rochester. Joseph Dunbar and brother settled about 1823-26; John Bigler (or Bigelow), on northeast

quarter section 9, about 1823. About 1820, Jedediah and Amasa Messinger located on the southeast quarter of section 11, and lived there several years, finally moving to the neighborhood of Romeo, Macomb county. The land where they settled in Avon (section 11) was probably entered by a man named Par- tridge, but the Messingers made the first improvements upon it. They had previously lived near Utica, Macomb county.

Ezra Bellows, who was born near Bellows Falls, Vermont, and afterwards re- moved to Middlebury, in what is now Wyoming county, New York, emigrated to Michigan in 1822, landing in Detroit on the first day of June. He proceeded as far as Pontiac, and for several months lived near Galloway lake with an old acquaintance by the name of Joseph Miller. He then removed to the town of Washington, Macomb county, but only stayed there a short time, and finally rented a farm on section 12, Avon township, Oakland County, which he after- wards purchased. He was accompanied by his wife and three children,-two sons and one daughter,-the younger son (and youngest child)-Ezra-being at the time but a year old.

Captain William Price, a native of the State of Maryland, and afterwards a resi- dent of Monroe county, New York, where his parents moved when he was small, settled in Washington township, Macomb county, Michigan, in April, 1823, his parents coming the following June. The latter died in that township. Captain . Price was married to a daughter of Hon. Samuel Axford, judge of the Macomb county probate court, and in 1830 removed to Avon (then Oakland) and located on section 12, on a place originally owned by William Scott, and now the prop- erty of H. Wheeler. In the spring of 1837 he moved his family to the farm where Mrs. Price is at present residing,-section 1,-where he purchased the Hersey property,¿ including the farm, grist-mill, and carding-mill, which he ope- rated for twelve or fifteen years. He had worked in the old mill. The mills are now the property of Joseph Winkler, he having purchased them of the sons of Captain Price after the death of their father. The carding-mili has long been removed.

In April, 1827, the arrival is chronicled of Craig Parmenter, his wife, and five children,-four sons and one daughter,-from Onondaga county, New York. Mr. Parmenter had been out in July, 1823, and purchased the property, it being the east half of the southeast quarter of section 1,-the same now occupied by his son, Almon Parmenter. Four children were born after the settlement, and five of the nine are now living. The first house built by Mr. Parmenter was a log structure which stood a short distance west of Almon Parmenter's present residence. The old house was torn down about 1836. Mr. Parmenter died on the place he had settled in August, 1868, aged nearly eighty-three years. His wife died the year previously.

Leonard Sprague, from Ontario county, New York, visited Michigan in 1825 for the purpose of selecting land. In 1827 he emigrated with his family and settled in the township of Farmington, where he remained but one year, and re- moved to the south part of Avon township in 1828. He resided in the town- ship until 1867, when he removed to Pontiac, having been a citizen of Avon for thirty-nine years.

Lewis Tibbals, a native of Cayuga county, New York, and later a resident of Monroe county, emigrated with his family to Michigan in 1826, and located on the Pontiac and Rochester road, five miles east of Pontiac, where he lived for twenty-five years on a farm he purchased from the government. From thence he removed to Lapeer, where he resided two years. Returning, he located a second time in Avon, and here spent the balance of his days. His death occurred on the 4th of May, 1876, when he was in the ninetieth year of his age. He was a resident of Avon for almost fifty years, and at the time of his death was the oldest citizen of the township.

Daniel A. Dennison accompanied his parents to Michigan in 1831, being one of a family of nine children who removed here at that time. His father was a minister of the gospel, and settled in the township of Avon, one mile east of the " Oakland Baptist church," where he remained about three and a half years, finally selling his property, and removing to Warren, Macomb county. There he resided for nineteen years, cultivating his farm and preaching, and in 1854 sold his place and came to Troy, Oakland County. In November, 1865, he again gathered his household effects together and removed to Bay City, where he resided until his death, October 16, 1866, when he had reached the seventy-seventh year of his age. He died at the house of his son, Elias B. Dennison.

Smith Weeks, a native of Westchester county, New York, and later a resident of Honeoye Falls, visited Michigan in 1822, and purchased in Avon, on sections 19, 20, and 29, afterwards returning to New York. In 1824 he again came to Michigan, being alone, and built on his place a log house and log barn. The house had a good shingle roof, which was something remarkable for those days.

# Some of these are deceased since this article was written. + 1873.

# See history of Stony Creek.

135

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

His son, James A. Weeks, now a resident of Pontiac, where he has lived since 1833, emigrated to Michigan in 1826, and the balance of the family followed in 1827.

Smith Weeks was a descendant of John Weeks, of Rhode Island, one of the persons mentioned in the old charter of that State, granted by King Charles the Second, of England, in the fourteenth year of his reign. He was also third in descent from the famous Anneke Jans, one of the owners of the old Trinity church property in New York. In 1810, or perhaps earlier, Smith Weeks brought to Honeoye Falls, New York, what was said to have been the first card- ing machine in that part of the State In 1827 he brought the iron-work for a saw-mill to Avon township, and was preparing to build the mill on the Clinton river. His death, which occurred in 1829, prevented his completing the work. He was the father of six children, of whom but three survived him, and but one is now living-James A. Weeks, of Pontiac. The latter is the secretary of the Oakland County Pioneer Society, and has been a prominent man in Oakland, having held county offices and various other positions of trust. Smith Weeks entered the Methodist ministry at the age of eighteen years, and the ordination paper from Bishop Asbury, the first Methodist bishop in America, creating him an elder in that church, is now in the possession of James A. Weeks. The following is a copy of this interesting document :

" KNOW all Men by these Presents, That I, Francis Asbury, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, under the Protection of Almighty GOD, and with a Single Eye to his Glory, by the Imposition of my Hands and Prayer, did, on the Day of the Date hereof, set apart SMITH WEEKS for the Office of an Elder, in the said Methodist Episcopal Church ; a man whom we judge to be well qual- ified for that Work : And do hereby recommend him to all whom it may concern, as a proper Person to administer Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and to feed the flock of Christ, so long as his Spirit and Practice are such as become the Gospel.

" In Testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my Hand and Seal, this Twenty- fourth Day of September, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-five. " FRANCIS ASBURY."

Mr. Weeks labored as a local preacher while living in Oakland County, and was possibly the first Methodist preacher who worked in the ministry of that de- nomination in the county. He was a prominent man in many respects. He was at one time appointed path-master of nearly one-fourth of Avon township. He served as probate judge of the county, and was the first chaplain of the Masonic grand lodge of Michigan, in 1826. At the organization of that body he walked all the way from Avon to Detroit, in order to attend the meeting, returning in the same manner. He was sixty-two years of age when he died.

Meetings were held at an early day by the Methodist Episcopal church mem- bers in the Postal neighborhood, also in the Vannetler settlement, and they were kept up for some years ; but finally, on the organization of societies at Pontiac and Rochester, they joined with them, and the old associations were broken up.

Williston Stuart, from Fairfield county, Connecticut (town of Sherman), settled with his family, consisting of his wife and nine children, in Avon in the spring of 1834. He purchased eighty acres each on sections 8 and 9. One of his sons was married at the time they settled, and brought his family with him. Mr. Stuart died in August, 1855, and his wife five years previously. Five of his children are now living,-one son, O. G. Stuart, near the toll-gate on the Mount Clemens road, at Pontiac. The wife of the latter is a daughter of Ira Hammond, who immigrated to Michigan from the town of Ogden, Monroe county, New York, in the fall of 1827, landing at Detroit the 1st day of October, and coming im- mediately thereafter to the township of Oakland, where he settled, one mile north of the Oakland Baptist church. There he cleared and improved his land, and resided upon it until his death, which occurred in March, 1863.

In the northwestern portion of Avon township, the Deweys, Hemingways, and Baldwins were among the earlier settlers, coming between 1820 and 1827. Charles Baldwin, who donated the land for the Oakland Baptist church, is now a resident of Pontiac.

The following list of settlers in Avon is gleaned from the records of the Pioneer Society, at Pontiac :

James A. Weeks, native of Mendon, New York, settled in Avon in 1826. Simon and Ira Stowell, natives of Gates, New York, 1826. Thomas Curtis, of Onondaga, New York, 1832. C. A. Green, Richmond, New York, 1825. T. A. Gardner, of Mentz, New York, 1838. Charles Adams, native of East Bloom- field, Ontario county, New York, settled in 1826. Almira P. Brownson, of West Bloomfield, Ontario county, New York, emigrated in 1824. Herman Bennett, of Steuben county, New York, emigrated in 1822. John W. Barger, of Staten Island, New York, emigrated in 1824. Charles F. and Theodore C. Cook, of Johnstown, Montgomery county, New York, emigrated in 1833. William Fisher,

of Hinsdale, New Hampshire, emigrated 1838. Laura Fisher, first white female child born in Avon ; birth occurring July 25, 1821. Wilson Fenner, of Oxford, Warren county, New Jersey, emigrated 1837. George Garter, of Otsego county, New York, emigrated 1843. Laura Hamlin, of Covington, Genesee county, New York, emigrated 1822. Simon P. Hartwell, of Warrensbury, Warren county, New York, emigrated 1835. Jacob Hadley, of New Hampshire, emigrated 1837. Newell C. Jones, of Henderson, Jefferson county, New York, emigrated 1822. Johu Kinney, of New Jersey, emigrated 1839. Henry M. Look, Sr., native of Sangersfield, Oneida county, New York, settled in Hadley, Lapeer county, 1834 ; now a resident of Rochester. Mrs. Mary Martz, of Johnstown, Montgomery county, New York, emigrated 1832. John M. Norton, of Richmond, Ontario county, New York, emigrated 1824. Mary Lambertson, of Sweden, Monroe county, New York, emigrated 1831. Julia Vandeventer, of Sweden, Monroe county, New York, emigrated 1831. Seneca Newberry, of East Windsor, Con- necticut, emigrated 1827. Hosea B. Richardson, of Northfield, Vermont, emi- grated in 1832. Mrs. Charlotte Richardson, native of Ontario, emigrated 1822. Smith Shippey, of Adams, Jefferson county, New York, emigrated 1822. Mrs. Morrison Swift, of Phelps, Ontario county, New York, emigrated 1834. David Summers, of Oxford, Warren county, New Jersey, emigrated 1833. Stephen Shreeves, emigrated 1830. John M. Wilcox, of Bristol, Ontario county, New York, emigrated 1832. Peter Wilcox, of State of New York, emigrated 1831. George W. Vandeventer, of Romulus, Seneca county, New York, emigrated 1834. Isaac M. Benedict, of Oriskany, New York, settled in 1835. Benjamin Dutton, of Hartford, Vermont, settled in 1837. Chauncey W. Greene, of Richmond, New York, settled in 1825.

THE FIRST WHITE CHILD

born in the township and county was James Graham, a son of Alexander Graham, his birth occurring early in the year 1818. Abraham Hill, now residing at Stony Creek, was born January 14, 1819, and George W. Hersey in the succeeding March. Mr. Hill is the only one of these three now living.

THE FIRST PERSON MARRIED,

who was a resident of Avon township, was John Sargent, who lived west of Roch- ester. The date of this marriage we are unable to give. Mr. Sargent's choice was a young lady named Sweet (probably Amy Sweet), a resident of Shelby, Macomb county. The ceremony was performed in the latter township, by 'Squire Scott, who was appointed justice of the peace under the Territorial governor. This was the first time he had been called upon to perform the marriage rite, and was con- sequently an occasion of considerable importance. The squire had committed the marriage service to memory, so as to be ready in case of an emergency, but when the time arrived for him to tie the knot his memory failed him, and he was obliged to return to his home after the necessary document before he could proceed with the ceremony. Once back, with the book before him, all was right, and the happy couple were soon united, and " went on their way rejoicing."

The history of the

INDIANS

of Avon and the surrounding country is replete with many items of interest, yet the subject has been too generally treated upon to admit of much space here. When the township was first settled the appearance of the surface of the ground was such as to indicate that it had at some distant day been tilled and made to produce crops of some kind,-most probably Indian corn, or maize. Ridges sim- ilar to rows of corn-hills were found running in a direction a little west of north and east of south, and being about four feet apart each way. Beside this, all the stones had been piled up, with the exception of a few scattering ones which were deeply imbedded in the earth.

Near the dwelling of Edwin T. Wilcox, some two miles south of Rochester, on the Paint creek road, there were deep indentations in the ground, from ten to twelve feet across, some of them over two feet in depth. They numbered per- haps a hundred, and were from four to six feet apart, following the line of the ridge, and were parallel, having the appearance of masses of earth thrown up around their winter wigwams. It was afterwards discovered, by digging into them, that they contained ashes and charcoal. On the lot owned by Simeon P. Hartwell the same indications of former occupation and cultivation were observed, and on the Chipman farm was an old burial-ground. It is said that these signs were never noticed north of the Clinton river.

The Indians, who always choose the best soil for raising what crops they use and the best localities for their villages and winter encampments, certainly did not choose unwisely when they located their habitation on the fertile lands of the southern part of Avon. Here were timber, water, and plenty of game, and long ere the sound of the settler's axe rang in the " sea-like solitude," the red race held undisturbed sway amidst the handiwork of nature as here displayed.

136

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

THE FIRST TOWN-MEETING

for the township of Avon proper was held on the 6th day of April, 1835, at "the house where the last town-meeting of the town of Oakland was held." Nathaniel Millerd was chosen moderator, and John S. Livermore clerk. The following township officers were elected : Supervisor, William Price; Town Clerk, Hiram Higley : Assessors, Bennett Beardsley, Nathaniel Millerd, Horace Foot; Collector, Lyman J. Wilcox ; Commissioners of Highways, Orange Foot, Elijah Hamlin, William H. Jewett ; Directors of the Poor, Abner Livermore, John Bigler; Con- stables. Lyman J. Wilcox, Silas D. McKeen; Commissioners of Common Schools, Joshua B. Taylor, Abner Livermore, Uri Adams; Inspectors of Common Schools, John S Livermore, Herrick Bromley, Abner Livermore, Silas D. McKeen, Martin Hayden ; Overseers of Highways, district No. 1, Gad Norton; No. 2, Jona- than Perrin; No. 3, Eleazer Millerd ; No. 4, John H. Axford; No. 5, Ezra Thorp ; No. 6, Calvin Chapel; No. 7, Benjamin Horton; No. 8, George A. Chipman ; No. 9, Bennett Beardsley ; No. 10, William S. Adams; No. 11, Leonard Adams; No. 12, John Bigler; No. 13, Charles Baldwin; No. 14, Mil- ton Sargent ; No. 15, William H. Jewett; No. 16, George Postal ; No. 17, John H. Ackerman ; No. 18, Roswell Bromley; No. 19, Philip Ernsberger ; No. 20, Lewis Tibbals ; No. 21, Wilder Winslow.

The supervisors of the township, from 1836 to 1877 inclusive, have been as follows : 1836, Almon Mack ; 1837, John F. Hamlin ; 1838, Seneca Newberry ; 1:39, Amos Brown; 1840-44, Charles Baldwin ; 1845-47, Norman Ransford ; 1848. Charles Baldwin; 1849, Norman Ransford; 1850-52, Almeron Brotherton; 1853. Charles Baldwin ; 1854, Almeron Brotherton; 1855, Charles Baldwin ; 1856. Lysander Woodward; 1857, James Newberry ; 1858, Charles Baldwin ; 1859-60, Almeron Brotherton ; 1861, Eli H. Bristol; 1862-75, Albert Terry ; 1876-77. Lysander Woodward.

Township Clerks .- 1836, Rollin Sprague; 1837, no choice at regular election ; special meeting held April 15, at which Henry Miller was elected ; 1838-45, Henry Miller ; 1846, Hiram Higley ; 1847, George W. Hersey; 1848, Henry Miller; 1849, John H. Kaple ; special meeting held July 3, at which E. P. Harris was elected to fill the vacancy ; 1850, Hiram C. Farrand; 1851-52, James Newberry ; 1853-54, Rollin Sprague ; 1855, Seneca Newberry, Jr. ; 1856, George Middaugh ; 1857. F. A. Brooks; 1858-62, Heman D. Calkin ; 1863-64, Edward S. Cook ; 1865-66. Hiram Lambertson ; 1867, F. D. Newberry ; 1868-70, Hiram Lambertson ; 1871-72, Joseph Reimer; 1873, Hiram Lambertson ; 1874-75, Julian S. Peters ; 1876-77, John J. Blinn.

Justices of the Peace .- 1836, Charles Baldwin, John Bennett, Uri Adams, Cyrus A. Chipman; 1837, Orange Foot ; 1838, Cyrus A. Chipman ; 1839, Calvin H Hamlin ; 1840, John L. Smith ; 1841, Orange Foot; 1842, Hiram Higley ; 1:43. Charles Baldwin ; 1844, Nathaniel A. Baldwin ; 1845, Almon Mack ; special election held November 4 of this year, at which John F. Hamlin was elected to fill vacancy caused by death of N. A. Baldwin ; 1846, Rollin Sprague ; 1847. John Frank ; 1848, Weller Warring; 1849, Henry Miller; 1850, John L. Smith ; special meeting held November 5, at which Calvin Parks was elected to fill vacancy ; 1851, Charles Baldwin ; 1852, Almon Mack; 1853, Lysander Woodward; 1854, Eli H. Bristol; 1855, George Middaugh, William Price ; 1556. Almon Mack ; 1857, Hezekiah Shoot; 1858, Robert R. Harper; 1859, Wm. Burbank, Joshua Van Hoosen ; 1860, Henry Miller; 1861, Peter F. Le Roy ; 1862. Jeremiah C. Wilson ; 1863, James Newberry ; 1864, Jedediah Millerd ; 1.65. Samuel Barnes, John Kinney ; 1866, J. C. Willson; 1867, William Bur- bank : 1868, Johnson Matteson ; 1869, Joseph Reimer ; 1870, Elliott R. Wil- cox : 1871, James Newberry ; 1872, Isaac W. Richardson ; 1873, Newland C. Jones : 1874, Henry M. Look ; 1875, James Newberry ; 1876, Asa J. Bateman, Edwin O. Patch; 1877, Isaac Lomason.

VILLAGE OF STONY CREEK AND VICINITY.

The first settlers on the site of this village were Lemuel Taylor, Sr., and his five sons,-Lemuel, Jr., Elisha, Joshua B., Henry, and Daniel,-the latter the youngest. Of these not one is now living; the last one to be consigned to the universal inheritance of mankind-" six feet of earth"-being Henry, who be- came an able physician. His death occurred in the spring of 1877. Mr. Taylor's w .- in-law, Nathaniel Millerd, was also one of the party, but for a year he lived in the township of Troy.

The Taylors settled here in 1823, Lemuel Taylor, Sr., purchasing five lots of eighty acres each, and giving his sons, with the exception of Daniel, then quite young. forty acres each. Mr. Taylor lived with his son Elisha. While a resi- dent of the State of New York he had become a Baptist exhorter, and, after removing to Michigan, exhorted about a year, and was then ordained. He was a man of weak constitution, and had become so much broken in health as to be

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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 30

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