History of Oakland County, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories, Part 45

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 45

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Among the predecessors of Mr. North were Rev. James Shaw and William H. Ransom, and his immediate successor to the pastorate was Rev. David Thomas, who labored one year, and after him the following ministers filled the sacred office at different times, and nearly, though perhaps not exactly, in the order in which they are named : Revs. Ebenezer Steele, Isaac F. Collin, Thomas Wakelin, Frederick Warren, Flavel Britton, William Stambaugh, D. C. Jacokes, O. M. Goodell, Curtis Mosher, John Gridley, Richard McConnell, Rufus Crane, Barton S. Taylor, Erastus Hascall, William Donnelly, S. E. Warren, William C. Way,- afterwards chaplain in the army,-Samuel Kitzmiller, Raynor S. Pardington, John A. McIlwaine, William J. Clack, and S. E. Warren (again), the present pastor.

The membership is now (1877) about one hundred. A Sabbath-school con- nected with the church was commenced in the year 1834, in the log school-house at Solomon Walker's, and has been continued to the present time. It now has an average attendance of about eighty.

THE QUAKER MEETING.

Forty-five years ago, Arthur Power donated two acres of ground lying a little north of the centre of section 28, and in its northeast quarter, to be used by the Quaker people of Farmington for church and cemetery purposes, one acre for each. Those two acres are now just within the western boundary of the corporation of

Farmington village. Upon this ground the old Quaker meeting-house, a good frame structure, was built in the year 1832; Mr. Power himself furnishing a goodly share of the necessary means. It was the intention that the ground which was not covered by the building should be utilized as a grazing-place, where the horses of the worshipers might refresh themselves while their owners were within the temple awaiting the moving of the spirit; and for these purposes the building and the glebe were used by the peaceful, unostentatious Quakers and their beasts for a space of about thirty years, until death's ravages had so far thinned their congregation that the few survivors thought it best to discontinue their meetings as a sect. This is all the history of the Quaker church. Its existence was marked by no ceremonious installations, no schisms or bickerings, and no revivals, or notable harvests of souls. The generation have passed away, and the old house, whose walls witnessed their undemonstrative worship for many years, is now a dwelling-house, occupied by some of the descendants of Farming- ton's first Quaker man, Arthur Power.

THE QUAKER BURIAL-GROUND

adjoining the church, and donated by Arthur Power, as before mentioned, received as its first occupants Mrs. Selinda, wife of Nathan Power, and their only daughter, seven years of age; both of whom died of cholera on the morning of August 7, 1832, and were interred there in one grave in the afternoon of the same day. The second interment was that of Robert Power, brother of Arthur, in December, 1834. The third was that of John Whitman, who died May 18, 1836. Arthur Power was buried there August 8, 1837, and there his ashes rest to-day, with those of five sons and two daughters-Mrs. Spencer and Mrs. Bots- ford-near him. The acre is well filled with graves now, and is still used as a place of interment, principally by the relatives and descendants of those who first projected and occupied it.

THE FARMINGTON VILLAGE CEMETERY.

This is an inclosure of about two acres, lying on the north side of the Howel road, half a mile northwest of the centre of Farmington village. The ground was part of the original purchase of Arthur Power, and the old grave-yard, the nu- cleus of the present cemetery, was first used as a place of sepulture in the year 1825, by the interment of a Mr. Green, the first male who died in Farmington. He had plied the trade of shoemaker in a little log house which stood a few rods north of the present residence of W. S. Beach, on the west side of the road, where it is now fringed by a row of young and thrifty willows. There he worked, and lived, and died; and from there they carried him to the place of his final rest.

The next person buried there was Mrs. Sybil Hopkins, wife of Horace Hop- kins. The third burial was that of Constantine Wood, in October, 1826 ;* and half a year later came that of the wife of David Smith, who died April 8, 1827. Another among the first interments there was John, son of Arthur Power, July 21, 1828. His remains were removed to the Quaker ground in 1867, by direction of his brother William. Seymour Newton was also buried here, in 1832.

Four years after the incorporation of the village of Farmington (March 25, 1871) the ground was surveyed and platted, and lots were then sold under the regulations, rules, and restrictions usual in cemeteries. It is a spot of natural beauty, and has been creditably decorated.

THE UTLEY BURYING-GROUND,

situated on the south line of section 12, and half a mile west of Buckhorn Cor- ners, is the oldest place of graves in Farmington. Its name was given partly be- cause it was donated from the original purchase of Peleg S. Utley, and partly, and more particularly, because his mother, Mrs. Sanford M. Utley, was the first of its occupants : buried September 26, 1824. Around this lonely grave-the first ever made for a white person in Farmington-others clustered in due time, establishing it as a ground of public burial. Some years ago, it having become quite populous and its extension seeming to be necessary, the inhabitants of the village enlarged its area by the purchase of adjoining land.

THE WOLCOTT CEMETERY.

The location of this cemetery is on the eastern side of the road which leads from Farmington Centre to the North Farmington post-office, and three-fourths of a mile south from the latter point. It is owned and controlled by a cemetery association, which was incorporated in March, 1837, under the leadership of Chauncey D. Wolcott, Orange Culver, and John H. Button, who held its leading offices at the time of the organization. The first interment in this ground, made after the laying out, but before the incorporation, was that of a young daughter of Austin Nichols. The second burial was that of Gardner Frink.

# The stone above his grave bears the date of 1827, but this is incorrect, the date being fixed by his widow (now Mrs. Ahijah Wixom) as October, 1826.

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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

On account of irregularities or neglect in the keeping of the records the organi- zation was lost, and a re-incorporation became necessary. This was accomplished in February, 1874.

By the original plat the area of the ground was a little more than half an acre, being nine rods square. This has been added to by two different purchases, so that its present dimensions are ten by twenty-two rods; area, one and three- eighths acres. The site is excellent, and the cemetery a handsome one.

Formerly, before the laying out of the cemetery, there was a cluster of graves just south of the house of C. D. Wolcott, and on the same side of the road. The first who was laid in it was Horace Cowles, a young man, son of Darius Cowles. He died of consumption about 1830. The next burial was that of John Wolcott, father of Chauncey D. Wolcott, and the next after him was Lucy Cowles, who was laid beside her brother Horace. These remains were afterwards transferred to the cemetery.

GRAVE-YARD AT THE OLD BAPTIST CHURCH.

There is an ancient burial-ground on the northwest corner of section 17, ad- joining where stood the old Baptist church of 1835. It is still used as a place of burial, and the graves have become numerous. The name and date of the first interment within it cannot with certainty be given. This is really the successor of a still older ground, which was situated half a mile farther south, on land of Thomas Johns, and opposite the present residence of his son, Daniel Johns. The first person buried in this old grave-yard was a son of Thomas Johns. The whole number of interments made there was probably about fifty.

OTHER INTERMENT-GROUNDS.

There is, upon the farm of Ledyard Cowley, a spot of ground where several in- terments were made years ago. It might be called the Wixom grave-yard, as all its occupants were of that name, save one, Mrs. Conrad Hayner, whose remains, as well as those of Mary Jane Wixom, were removed and reinterred in the town cemetery. Robert Wixom, the ancestor of all the Wixoms of Farmington, was buried in this place.

In the west part of the town, a little north of the gravel road, near the old Wixom tavern, is an inclosure containing several graves of members of the Courter family ; that of Harmenius Courter being the most noticeable, by reason of the more conspicuous monument which has been reared over it. This inclos- ure is on land owned by Francis Courter, and which was part of the original entry of Howland Mason.

The writer is under special obligations to the following persons, who have furnished valuable information : Dr. E. Woodman, W. L. Coonley, Esq., S. P. Lyon, John Collins, Mrs. Cynthia M. Collins, David Smith, E. G. Stevens, Thaddeus Andrews, C. Wixom, Myra Gage, of Novi, William L. Power, Esq., Orange Culver, Mrs. W. S. Beach, Milton G. Botsford, Thomas Pinkerton, of Novi, Deacon J. M. Adams, and Dr. Ebenezer Raynale, of Birmingham.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

SERGIUS P. LYON.

Eli Lyon, the grandfather of our subject, was one of the pioneers of western New York, he being one of the earliest settlers in East Bloomfield, Ontario county. He was there at the first census, and there were at that time just ten families in the town. He was a millwright by profession, and built the first saw- mill in the city of Rochester for Judge Gorham. He was the father of two sons and two daughters. Horace, the eldest son, was a mechanic and farmer, and was the father of five children, named respectively Joanna, Sergius P., Horatio, Eli, and Burton, who are all living in the State of Michigan, except Eli and Burton, who are deceased.

Sergius had limited advantages for an education at the common schools of that day, which he attended until thirteen years of age. He was a natural mechanic, and at that early age commenced to work with tools. He soon became engaged in joiner-, brass-, and clock-work, in which he was engaged many years.

At the age of twenty-eight he became acquainted with and married Miss Lucinda W. Davis, of Canandaigua, a native of Bristol. They resided in East Bloomfield until the summer of 1837, when they emigrated to the new State of Michigan and settled in the town of Farmington, where he engaged in building barns, houses, etc. ; many evidences of his superior handicraft may be pointed out to-day, among which is the fine old family mansion of Joshua Simmons and others.

In 1844 he settled in the village of Farmington and engaged in the manu- facture of self-regulating stoves, which at that time were almost entirely made by hand from sheet-iron ; many of his stoves are still in use in various parts of the country. He continued in this business about thirteen years and changed to that of an undertaker, which he has followed ever since. He now owns and runs two very fine hearses of his own manufacture, and his business extends over a large scope of country. Although having no children of their own, they have reared and brought up to manhood an adopted son, now deceased, and also another child, who is now a young lady and a member of their family.

Mr. Lyon has long been an honored member of the Masonic brotherhood. In religious faith a Universalist, and in politics Democratic. He and his excellent wife are models of kindness and liberality,-universally respected, honored and loved by all. And it is with pride and pleasure we chronicle this brief tribute to the character and worth of this old pioneer couple, and present in these pages, as a monument to their memory, their portraits and a view of their residence.

W. H. B.

GROVELAND TOWNSHIP.

THIS township, known on the government surveys as town 5 north, range 8 east, was organized in 1835 from a part of Pontiac township, and until 1838 included also what is now Holly township.

The surface of Groveland is generally hilly. In the northern and southern portions it is comparatively level, while throughout the balance the land is much higher and considerably broken. A high ridge stretches across the centre of the township from east to west, broken by occasional valleys, and the highest point is probably the hill west of the residence of D. C. Narrin, near the corner of sec- tions 14, 15, 22. and 23. The view from this elevation is extensive, and the eye beholds from its summit a broad and fertile country, dotted with field and forest, lake and stream, while the green of the prevailing foliage is occasionally contrasted with the darker hue of various clumps of evergreens. The white cottages of the "dwellers in the land" are seen peeping from among surrounding orchards, and away to the northeast the village of Ortonville appears cosily nestled among the hills.

The soil is in general sandy. On the central ridge vast quantities of loose stone-bowlders and " cobble stone"-abound, and the greatest work of the farmer

is that of clearing his fields from these rocky fragments. The stones are utilized for building fences, rendering the farms more valuable, and the use of timber almost unnecessary in that particular.

FIRST ENTRIES OF LAND, EARLY SETTLEMENTS, ETC.

The following paragraph is quoted from an address by the late Hon. Thomas J. Drake, delivered to the pioneers of Oakland County at the court-house in Pontiac, February 22, 1860 :

" In town 5 north, range 8 east, now called Groveland, on the 3d day of Sep- tember, 1829, William Roberts, then of the county of Oakland, made the first purchase. On the 29th of May, 1830, John Underhill, E. W. Fairchild, and Masten W. Richards purchased. In 1830, Henry W. Horton purchased at a point then known as ' Pleasant Valley.' In 1831, Franklin Herrick, Alexander Galloway, and Constant Southworth purchased. Mr. Southworth settled on a famous spot on the old Saginaw trail, known in those days as the ' big springs.' Those who have taken the trouble to descend from the road-side to the spring of water will bear testimony to its great beauty. It was ever held in great venera-

MRS. S. P. LYON .

S.P. LYON.

RESIDENCE OF S. P. LYON , FARMINGTON, MICHIGAN,

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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

tion by the Indians, and they seldom passed it without refreshing themselves. Those who have looked into that crystal fountain and beheld the sparkling water as it came bubbling up from the secret chambers of the earth, will not wonder that the red man saw in the aqueous mirror the Chemanito or Great Spirit."

Judge Drake held many positions of prominence, yet amid all his public duties never forgot old associations in the county of his choice, and in the above para- graph pays a fitting tribute to the locality which he mentions.

The first actual settlers in the township were William Roberts and Masten W. Richards, who built cabins on the old trail, near the site of the present Hadley cemetery.

Henry W. Horton,* a native of what is now Tompkins county, New York, came to Michigan in March, 1830, and located land on section 7. In the fall of the same year, after having returned to New York, he emigrated with his family, settled on section 7, and has lived at the same place until the present. He is the only one of the earlier pioneers now living in the township.

Ezra Herrick, with a family consisting of his wife and five children,-four sons and one daughter,-came from Huron county, Ohio, and arrived at the farm on section 28, near where his son, Lyman Herrick, now lives, on the 8th day of February, 1837. The snow at the time was over two feet deep. The family moved into a small log cabin, which was owned by a man named Simeon M. Smith, a resident of the State of New York. They built a log house on section 28, and lived in it for three years. One son, Cyrus Herrick, now living in Hardin county, Ohio, was born after the family settled. In 1840, Mr. Herrick built a small frame house on section 33, and moved into it from the log house. They came through from their home in Ohio with a wagon and a team of horses, making the trip in six days. After reaching Pontiac they found the snow very deep.

Mr. Herrick died in the fall of 1874, at the age of eighty-one or eighty-two years. His wife had preceded him to the " unknown beyond" thirty years be- fore,-her death occurring January 12, 1844, when she was thirty-eight years of age. One son, Alanson, lives in Flint, Genesee county, and Lyman on section 33, in Groveland, Oakland County. These two, with their brother Cyrus, of Ohio, are the only ones of the children now living.

Mr. Herrick purchased three eighty-acre lots from second hands, paying for the land the sum of four hundred dollars. The property is high and rolling, and from Lyman Herrick's house an extensive view may be had of the surrounding country.

Sidney Smith came from the town of Newfane, Niagara county, New York, in the fall of 1839, leaving his old home October 3 of that year. He was accom- panied by his wife and two sons. They lived in the township of Novi until the month of April, 1841, when they removed to Groveland and located on the place on section 26 where they now live. Mr. Smith here purchased forty acres of Thomas Terwilligar, for which he paid one hundred dollars. In the fall of 1840 he went back to New York on business, and while passing through Detroit at- tended a "log cabin" campaign meeting, where the old songs of " Tippecanoe and Tyler too" and other campaign ditties were loudly sung, and eloquent orators proclaimed the ability of their favorite candidates.

Mr. Smith is the father of seven children, of whom six are now living,-four sons and two daughters. He was born August 11, 1810, in the town of Wan- tage, Sussex county, New Jersey. His parents removed to Niagara county, New York, just after the war of 1812, his father having been out the summer before the war, cleared land, and sowed wheat. The settlers in that part of the State were few at the time. Sidney Smith came on a visit to Michigan in 1836, looking the country over for land.

Thomas H. Terwilligar came from the city of New York in 1836 or '37, and settled on the southwest quarter of section 26. He afterwards kept the hotel at Austin Corners, and died July 4, 1871, aged fifty-six years.

Archibald Cogshall came from Saratoga county, New York, in 1840, and settled near the site of Mount Bethel Methodist Episcopal church, in Groveland. He was a native of Connecticut, and had removed to New York State in 1811. He was by profession a Methodist minister. When he came to Michigan he was accompanied by his wife, one son, and two daughters. He died August 31, 1850, aged sixty years. His wife died in February, 1876, at the age of eighty-five years.

Mr. Cogshall's son, Bela Cogshall, now of Holly village, came to Michigan in August, 1836, and settled on section 34, in the same neighborhood where his father afterwards located. He was married a little more than a week before he left New York, and was accompanied west by his wife.

Another son, Henry Cogshall, came in the spring of 1839 with his wife and two children. None of the Cogshalls are now living in the neighborhood. Bela Cogshall is a prominent attorney at Holly, and is connected with various public institutions.

Henry Hunt came in company with his son-in-law, Bela Cogshall, in 1836. His daughter was Mr. Cogshall's first wife. His wife and two sons also accom- panied him. He lived in the neighborhood most of the time until his death, which occurred in November, 1874, when he was eighty-five years of age. One of his sons, Perry Hunt, lives on the old place, on section 35, and is the only one of the children now living. Mr. Hunt originally settled the west half of the north- west quarter of section 35,-eighty acres.

Henry Covert came from Seneca county, New York, and in 1837 settled in Michigan, locating on the farm now owned by his son, George Danforth Covert, section 22. His wife, three sons, and two daughters came with him. He pur- chased eighty acres of Thomas Belone (or Belona), who had entered the land. Mr. Covert made the first improvements upon it,-built a log shanty, with a "shake" roof, etc. Of his children four are now living,-three sons and one daughter. Mr. Cogshall died December 23, 1866, aged seventy years, and his wife March 29, 1865, also aged seventy.

Mr. Covert's children first attended school in the Bird district, three and a half miles distant.

Mr. Covert was a very hardy man, strong and athletic, and able to perform a great amount of manual labor. On one occasion he carried a beetle, an axe, and two iron wedges to the southeast corner of Holly township, split five hundred rails, and returned the same evening, carrying his tools and the additional weight of seventy pounds of flour. The farm upon which he settled is equal in fertility to any in the neighborhood.

Alexander Downey came from County Down, Ireland, in 1833, with his wife, whose maiden name was Jane Hamilton, a native of the parish of Killinchy, County Down. They settled in the town of Elba, Genesee county, New York, in July, 1833, and lived there until the fall of 1835, when they sold their place, and with a span of horses and a yoke of oxen, each team hitched to a wagon, they removed with their goods to Michigan. They came through Canada to Detroit, and thence along the new Saginaw turnpike to Groveland. When they arrived their means were nearly exhausted, but they went bravely at work in the wilder- ness, and ere long were as comfortably situated as any of the pioneers around them. A log house had been previously built on the place by John Phipps, from whom Mr. Downey purchased. In 1838, Mr. Downey and his wife became members of the first Methodist class formed in the township, of which very few of the original members are now living. Mrs. Downey died April 4, 1875, aged sixty-eight years. She had lived with her husband over forty-six years, and was the mother of twelve children, of whom nine are now living,-four sons and five daughters. One daughter, Eliza, is now the wife of Captain Allen Campbell, living on section 16, Groveland township.

Captain Allen Campbell came from near Aberdeen, Scotland, with his parents, in 1827, and located at Paterson, New Jersey. In 1829 he went to Columbia county, New York, and lived for some time with his uncle on a farm. In 1835 he left there and went on a whaling voyage on board a vessel from New Bedford, Massachusetts. He sailed until 1847, and during the Mexican war commanded the United States transport schooner " Heroine," a light-draft vessel, as were all used in those seas. At the close of the war, in 1847, the cholera and yellow fever both broke out and raged along the coast of the gulf, and Captain Campbell came north to escape them. He came to Groveland and purchased school land on sec- tion 16, locating one hundred and twenty acres, which he still owns. He was married in 1847 to Mary Campbell, daughter of Allen Campbell, who had settled in the township in 1836. She lived but a few years, and after her death the captain spent another year sailing, principally on the Gulf of Mexico. His present wife is Eliza, a daughter of Alexander Downey, to whom he was married in 1854. He is the father of four children, one by his first and three by his second wife. The latter-one son and two daughters-are all living. His son, Alexander J. Campbell, is the present township clerk.

In 1875, Captain Campbell represented the first district of Oakland County in the State legislature. While sailing, he says he was " almost everywhere," and after wearying of a seafaring life came away out to Michigan to find a permanent home. He came to Groveland because his uncle had settled here. His first wife was his own cousin. He has a fine farm, well improved.

Abram D. Perry came from the town of Ontario, Wayne county, New York, in the spring of 1836, and settled in Oakland County, Michigan, living through that summer in the township of Royal Oak, and removing to the farm where J. W. Perry now lives, on section 17, Groveland, in the fall of the same year. He was accompanied from New York by his wife and two sons,-the latter both small,- and another son was born at Royal Oak, in the summer of 1836, while Mr. Perry and his family were stopping there. A daughter was born after they came to Groveland. An older daughter was married in New York, and came with her husband, John S. Narrin (who now lives east of J. W. Perry's residence, on sec- tion 20), at the same time with the rest of the family. J. W. Perry is the only

* See personal sketch.

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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

one of the children now living. One son, Abram D. Perry, Jr., was wounded at a battle near Cold Harbor, Virginia, early in June, 1864, and died afterwards at Washington, D. C., from the effects of his wound. He had first enlisted in the Eighth Michigan Infantry, and was wounded at James Island, near Charleston, South Carolina, discharged, and afterwards re-enlisted in the Second Michigan Infantry, to which organization he belonged at the time of his death.

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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 45

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