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 51
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Harley Olmsted (now of Commerce), Nicholas Doherty, Ralph W. Hopkins, James Thompson, Charles Porter, R. D. Voorheis, Sebring Voorheis, Peter Voor-
heis, John and Robert Garner, Rev. L. Chandler, L. D. Moorehouse, John F. Par- ish, Sloan Cooley, Mrs. G. W. Burrows, and others. We have also gleaned some- what from the records of the Pioneer Society at Pontiac.
Those who have biographical sketches we have given but short notice in the general history of the township, in order to avoid repetition. Their history will be found complete, however, in the following biographies.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
HARLEY OLMSTED
was born June 19, 1803, in the town of Pittstown, Rensselaer county, New York, and afterwards settled in Monroe county. In the fall of 1831 he came from the town of Wheatland,* in the latter county, and purchased the east half of the southeast quarter of section 36, in township 3 north, range 8 east, now called White Lake, Oakland. County, Michigan. He returned to New York, and in February, 1832, was married to Dyantha Spencer, who was born in 1813. In May, 1832, he came with his wife, his brother, James Olmsted, Jr., and two sisters to Michigan, and located on the land he had previously entered, where he built the first house in the township, also the first frame barn.
Mr. Olmsted's first wife became the mother of five children, and died February 9, 1840, at the age of twenty-seven. These children were as follows, viz. :
JAMES H., the first white child born in the township, his birth occurring Feb- ruary 20, 1833 ; died April 23, 1855.
ELIZABETH, born October 23, 1834; married to Norman Payne, of Commerce township, June 21, 1852.
ANN R., born January 15, 1836; married February 2, 1861, to Ralph W. Hopkins ; now living at Oxbow.
MARY SOPHIA, born March 22, 1837 ; married April 7, 1855, to Horatio Swan, of Birmingham ; now living with her second husband, Charles Stevens, at Fremont, Sanilac county, Michigan.
SARAH SAMANTHA, born July 31, 1838; married October 10, 1858, to Smith Cole, of White Lake; died December 24, 1859.
On the 3d day of November, 1843, Mr. Olmsted was married to Rachel Taylor, whose father, Thomas Taylor, came from Dutchess county, New York, in 1830- 31, and settled in the township of Lyon. Mrs. Olmsted was born in Dutchess county, New York, and is now living with her husband, on section 1, in the town of Commerce, Oakland County, Michigan.
The issue of Mr. Olmsted's second marriage is a family of ten children, as follows :
DYANTHA L., born March 7, 1844; married February 22, 1865, to Smith Cole, after the death of his first wife (her half-sister), Samantha Olmsted; died December 13, 1872.
ADELIA M., born February 25, 1845 ; married November 12, 1865, to Linus
B. Hathaway, of Waterford, now living in that township.
HARLEY SHEPHERD, born February 28, 1847; died March 14, 1849.
CHARLOTTE L., born December 14, 1848; died in March, 1854.
ROSALIA R., born March 28, 1852; died also in March, 1854.
EVELINE F., born April 17, 1854; married October 10, 1872, to Lorenzo N.
Hathaway, of Pontiac; now living at Oxbow.
CHARLES H., born May 29, 1855.
CHARLOTTE R., born March 25, 1858.
JENNIE A., born October 26, 1859.
WILLIAM H., born June 12, 1864.
Nine of Mr. Olmsted's children are living, as will be seen by referring to the record. Mr. Olmsted himself is seventy-four years of age, and still possessed of much of the vigor of his youth. His prospects are promising for yet a long sojourn in the land to which he first came forty-six years ago (1831).
ERASTUS HOPKINS.
The second settler in the southeastern portion of White Lake township was the subject of this sketch. He was born in the town of Paris, Oneida county, New York, August 16, 1804. His father, Mark Hopkins, removed in March, 1807, to Prattsburg, Steuben county, New York, where, on the 31st of January, 1828, Erastus was married to Lydia Ann Parker, of Sangerfield, Oneida county. He had been to Michigan in July, 1833, and located three hundred and twenty acres of land in White Lake township, on sections 22 and 27, and in October,
# This is according to Mr. Olmsted's recollection. Judge Drake's article states that the land was entered October 7, 1830. The latter is probably correct.
OCTAVIUS ROBINSON, SR.
OCTAVIUS ROBINSON .
MRS. OCTAVIUS ROBINSON.
MRS. OCTAVIUS ROBINSON, SR.
RESIDENCE of OCTAVIUS ROBINSON, WHITE LAKE TP., OAKLAND CO., MICH.
PUB. BY L.H. EVERTS & CO. 716 FILBERT ST. PHILA.
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
1834, emigrated with his family from New York, coming by team through Canada. Mr. Hopkins was a skilled deer-hunter, and during the close times following his settlement was obliged to rely greatly on his marksmanship for a supply of meat.
At the first town-meeting, held April 4, 1836, Mr. Hopkins was elected to the office of assessor, and afterwards held other township offices. Was also chosen one of the first elders of the First Presbyterian church of White Lake at its organiza- tion, August 1, 1835.
He followed the occupation of a farmer during his entire active life. He was naturally an adept in the use of carpenters' tools, and erected most of his own buildings. He died July 9, 1876, aged nearly seventy-two years. He was three times married ; his first wife died February 28, 1838, and was the mother of five children, of whom three grew to manhood.
His second marriage was with Climene Clark, a native of Westhampton, Hamp- shire county, Massachusetts, and was consummated in May, 1839, at Prattsburg, Steuben county, New York. His second wife became the mother of three chil- dren, all of whom are now living. She died November 1, 1864, and on the 1st day of January, 1867, he was married to Mrs. Abigail C. Dole, of New Haven, Connecticut. She was a sister of his second wife, and he married her in Oakland County.
Of Mr. Hopkins' children, one son, Daniel G. Hopkins, was wounded at the battle of South Mountain, Maryland, September 14, 1862, and died at the Lu- theran church hospital at Frederick, Maryland, on the 8th of the following November. He was a member of Company E, Seventeenth Michigan Infantry,- the famous " Stonewall" regiment. Another son, George H. Hopkins, was in the same company, and is now engaged in the practice of law at Detroit. Wil- liam W. Hopkins, the oldest of Mr. Hopkins' children, was a member of the Fifth Michigan Cavalry, and was discharged with the regiment at Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, whither it had been sent for the purpose of quieting some trouble- some Indians, in 1866, after having served two years. He died at Frankfort, Benzie county, Michigan, of the typhoid fever, probably induced by the effect of an accidental gunshot wound he had received some time previously.
All of Mr. Hopkins' children who are living reside in Detroit, except his son Ralph W., who is in business at Oxbow. Those living in Detroit are the chil- dren of his second wife, and are George W., Charles C., and Lydia C. Hopkins. Charles C. Hopkins is a recent graduate of the law department of the State uni- versity at Ann Arbor, and has lately begun practice in Detroit.
The son now living at Oxbow,
RALPH W. HOPKINS,
was born at Prattsburg, Steuben county, New York, July 20, 1832. In 1834 he was brought to Michigan by his father, together with one other son, William. A third son, Daniel, was born at Oxbow in 1836.
R. W. Hopkins was married February 2, 1862, to Ann R. Olmsted, daughter of Harley Olmsted, the first settler of White Lake township. He has held the position of postmaster at Oxbow post-office since it was established (June 11, 1873), and is also proprietor of the saw- and planing-mills at that place.
His father was a Whig in politics until the Republican party was formed, when he became a member of it, and Ralph has followed wisely in his footsteps, be- lieving that the party which by a mighty effort broke the shackles of the slave and removed the curse of slavery from the land is the one to support.
THOMAS GARNER
was born in county Antrim, Ireland, in the year 1756. He was of Scotch de- scent, his father having been among those who were obliged to flee from Scotland during the reign of terror consequent upon religious persecution. They managed, however, to save their Bibles, which were more precious to them than " all else beside."
Mr. Garner married Ann Crawford, and they became the parents of thirteen children,-seven sons and six daughters,-of whom three-a son and two daugh- ters-died in Ireland when young. Mrs. Garner was also of Scotch parentage, her people being among the fugitives from persecution, as were the Garners. Her male ancestors were men of marked ability and influence. They also settled in county Antrim, Ireland. After the three children died, it was sixty-seven years before there was another death among them (the children).
Thomas Garner was engaged in the Irish Rebellion, and for three years carried documents inciting the men of Ireland to rebellion against the English govern- ment and the establishment of an independent government for themselves.
Mr. Garner was a manufacturer of fine linen, and followed that business for many years while living in Ireland. He left the land of the shamrock in 1801, and in May of that year arrived at New York. He immediately settled in the
township of Hardiston, Sussex county, New Jersey, where he followed farming and milling. He owned a flouring-mill, and operated it for twenty-one years, when he sold out and removed to Paterson, New Jersey, and worked at manufac- turing. In September, 1825, he again caught the spirit of moving, and emigrated to the township of Pultney, Steuben county, New York, where he resided in the vicinity of the famed Crooked lake. While in that county he followed farming. In 1833, when the " Michigan fever" began to be felt among the inhabitants of New York, he again pulled up, although seventy-seven years of age, and came to Oakland County, and purchased a farm in White Lake township, upon which he lived for five years. His death occurred on the 2d day of September, 1838, when he was eighty-two years and six months old. His wife, to whom he had been married over fifty years, was now left to mourn him who had been her companion for so long a time. She lived until 1861, and died in her ninety-second year. She had been a woman of great strength of character, and influential in every community in which she had lived. Always a foe to intemperance, she so thor- oughly instilled her principles into the minds of her children that not one of them ever indulged in the use of liquor, tobacco, nor profane language. Mr. and Mrs. Garner were both exemplary Christians, and lived up to their creed. They were members of the Presbyterian church from their youth, and were among the first members of the church of that denomination, which was organized at White Lake not long after they settled in the township (August 1, 1835).
JOHN GARNER,
son of Thomas and Ann Garner, was born in the township of Hardiston, Sussex county, New Jersey, April 6, 1805. He lived there with his parents until he was sixteen years old, helping his father on the farm and in the mill, and then removed with them to Paterson, New Jersey, where his father worked at manu- facturing cotton cloths until the fall of 1825, and then removed to the town of Pultney, Steuben county, New York, where he and his sons managed a farm. John Garner speaks of an incident which occurred while living in New York that taught him an important lesson. His father one day said to him, "John, go and split that big pine log on the Borden lot into rails." Taking his tools, he " ham- mered away" at it till noon, some of the neighbors remarking that they " guessed John Garner had his match at last." He finally split the log open, and went to dinner. It made one hundred rails, and Mr. Garner says he never undertook to split another pine log through the heart !
At the age of twenty-two he left home and went to Bath, Steuben county, New York, and purchased one hundred and seventy acres of wild land. After working upon it a year he married Miss Christiana Bachman, daughter of Dea- con Bachman, one of the most influential citizens of the neighborhood. This was in the town of Pultney, and occurred April 8, 1828. He went with his wife (who was born January 27, 1808) to his farm in Bath, and lived there until June, 1833, when he sold out and came to Michigan with his father, and located in White Lake township, Oakland County. He was accompanied by his wife and three children, and settled finally where he now lives, on section 5. On the 1st of August, 1835, he and his wife became members of the First Presbyterian church of White Lake, organized that day. Mrs. Garner became the mother of thirteen children,-six sons and seven daughters,-and died March 13, 1852, aged forty-four years one month and sixteen days. The names of her children are as follows :
JACOB B., born April 9, 1829 ; died September 27, 1852.
THOMAS C., born May 2, 1831 ; now a professor in the high school at Owosso, Michigan.
ROBERT B., born December 16, 1832; farming in Livingston county.
SARAH B., born December 1, 1834; now living at Milford, Oakland County, with her second husband, William Lamphear.
NANCY, born September 21, 1836 ; wife of O. P. Morgan, of Shiawassee. LUCY ANN, born November 19, 1838; died October 23, 1859.
JAMES, born February 10, 1841 ; farming in Tuscola county, Michigan. WILLIAM, born April 8, 1843 ; farming and milling at Parkersville, Kansas. MARY JANE, born August 16, 1844; now Mrs. James Gordon, of Highland township.
JOSEPHINE, born September 1, 1846; died April 17, 1852.
GEORGE B., born January 16, 1849; died when four days old. CHRISTIANA, born February 1, 1850; died when two days old.
JULIA ANN, born March 9, 1852; died when nine days old.
Mr. Garner moved into the old log house on his place in August, 1833, and lived in it until 1846, when he built the stone house he now occupies. He began life in the Michigan wilderness under close circumstances, and had a wife and three children to support. Money was so scarce that it was extremely difficult to get enough to pay the postage on letters, which was then twenty-five cents in
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
silver each. Mr. Garner speaks of having three letters come for him to Pontiac, in 1834, the combined postage being seventy-five cents. He was unfortunate enough to be without the money, and in order to raise it took his axe and beetle, went to his father and begged a job of rail-splitting. After splitting one hundred and fifty rails, at the rate of fifty cents per hundred, he received his money, and went afoot to Pontiac for his letters.
Mr. Garner always carried his rifle with him when away from home, and the first season after he settled he killed over fifty deer. He and Harrison Voorheis, who lived close by, had many an adventure together. On one occasion Garner caught a wounded deer by the tail, and swung around a tree to hold it, and hung on till Voorheis came up and cut its throat. Mr. Garner and his two brothers, William and Thomas, were excellent shots with the rifle, and killed a great many deer.
On the 18th of September, 1852, Mr. Garner the second time entered matri- mony, being married that day to Miss Sarah Coryell, of the town of Pultney, Steuben county, New York. She was born July 20, 1822, and was the daughter of Deacon John Coryell, a respected citizen of the township. He was an early settler in the locality, coming there at an early day with his father, David Coryell, from the State of New Jersey. John Coryell is now living, at the age of eighty- one ; but his wife, whose maiden name was Mary Ellis, is deceased.
The father of Mr. Garner's first wife. Jacob Bachman, settled at an early day in the town of Romulus, Seneca county, New York, and afterwards removed to Pultney, Steuben county, where he was living when Mr. Garner married his daughter.
The second marriage of Mr. Garner has been blessed with a family of seven children, as follows :
JOHN CORYELL, born August 29, 1853.
JOSEPHINE, born December 28, 1854; widow of Daniel Kellogg, who died December 1. 1876.
JOSEPH. born April 20, 1856; lives at home.
LEROY G .. born August 20, 1859 ; lives at home.
-
CHARLES M., born March 10, 1861 ; lives at home.
THEODORE, born July 23, 1863; died the next day.
ANNIE GRACE, born June 5, 1865 ; lives at home.
Mr. Garner has given his sons, who are married, the sum of one thousand dol- lars each. and to his married daughters eight hundred dollars each. He now owns two hundred and sixty acres of land, lying in sections 4, 5, 6, and 8, and his farm is one of the best in the township.
He and his wife are members of the " White Lake church." The building is owned by him and his brother Robert, and these two are the main supporters of the society.
In politics he is a Republican, and also an earnest advocate of the principles of temperance. He is a member of White Lake grange, No. 253, P. of H.
ROBERT GARNER,
fifth son and ninth child of Thomas and Ann Garner, is one of a pair of twins, a son and a daughter, and was born in the township of Hardiston, Sussex county, New Jersey, September 2, 1810. When in his eleventh ycar he moved with his parents to Paterson, New Jersey, and in September, 1825, to the town of Pultney, Steuben county, New York. In April, 1833, he came with his father to Oakland County, Michigan, and the two located land on sections 5 and 8, the elder purchasing for himself and sons, and Robert in his own name. They re- turned to New York, and immediately thereafter, on the 20th of May, 1833, Robert Garner was married to Miss Mary E. Armstrong, whose father, Andrew Armstrong, was of Scotch and her mother of German descent.
Three weeks after his marriage, or early in June, he emigrated with his father and brothers ( himself, his brother John, and his father having families) to Michi- gan. and settled on the land he and his father had entered in April. They passed the last house on the way, that of Harley Olmsted, on section 36, eight miles from their new home, and came on through the woods. They built a shanty at first. in which all three families lived for some time. This was on the land of Thomas Garner, Sr. A log house was next erected close to the site of the shanty, and they lived in that for some nine months. Previous to this, however, John Garner had moved into a house on his own place, and in the spring of 1834 Robert moved into a log house, eighteen by twenty-six feet, one and a half stories high, which he had built on his own place on section 5. He first occu- pied it May 21, 1834, one year and a day after his marriage. His present sub- stantial stone dwelling was built in 1847.
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Garner are the parents of eleven children,-two sons and nine daughters,-of whom four are now living. Their children are as follows : JANE, born March 13, 1835; died March 27, 1837.
MARGARETTA and MARY, born July 8, 1836; Margaretta died April 17, 1856, and Mary, January 27, 1837.
MARY JANE, born November 14, 1838; married November 30, 1858, to Lyman Mathews; now living in Highland township.
DEVINA, born November 23, 1840 ; married . April 1, 1862, to Isaac W. Mills ; also living in Highland township.
ANDREW A., born September 23, 1843; married May 19, 1870, to Cora Kelly; now living near his father.
ANN, born January 13, 1846; died February 20, 1847.
MATTIE, born February 18, 1850; married October 16, 1872, to James Pepper ; living near her father.
CHARLES C., born November 11, 1853; died May 23, 1855.
ADA M., born October 20, 1856; died April 9, 1860.
CLARISSA, born May 3, 1859; died August 13, 1874.
In the fall of 1832, Mr. Garner experienced religion, while living in the State of New York, and in August, 1835, united with the First Presbyterian church of White Lake, being chosen one of its first elders. About 1846 he joined with other members of the Presbyterian church and formed an independent congrega- tion, which has never been connected with any organization. It is now known as the " White Lake church," and both Mr. and Mrs. Garner are members. Mrs. Garner was converted at the first revival held in the old Presbyterian church, and united with that organization. Mr. Garner was superintendent of the first Sabbath-school in the neighborhood, which was organized about 1837, for the accommodation of all who chose to attend, whether Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, or of other belief. He has been superintendent of six different Sabbath-schools, and holds that position at present in one in the south part of White Lake township. He is also a prominent member of the order of Patrons of Husbandry ; was for three terms Master of White Lake grange, No. 253, and is now Overseer of Pomona grange, No. 5, at Pontiac.
His father was a Democrat in politics, and in 1832 Robert cast his first vote, for Andrew Jackson. Finally he left the Democratic party, and joined the Whigs, who he considered possessed more honest principles. Was afterwards an abolitionist and finally a Republican, voting for Lincoln in 1860. He has always been a foe to slavery and a strong advocate in favor of teetotalism. He was a candidate at one time for State senator, on the Prohibition ticket, and was defeated by a party vote. His name was used because his temperance principles were so well known. Previous to that time he had been a candidate for repre- sentative in the legislature, on the Republican ticket, but was defeated, although he ran far ahead of his ticket, and his opponent was only elected by a very small majority. This in a district containing but two Republican towns speaks well for Mr. Garner's popularity.
He has always been foremost in matters of reform, and also in the general improvement of the county. Railways, plank-roads, etc., have been aided in a large degree from his means, although the returns have not always proved profit- able to himself. He has perhaps done more than any other man in this portion of Oakland County for the general advancement and improvement of the country he chose to make his home more than forty-four years ago.
He is the present owner of two hundred and forty-five acres of land, and has given a considerable amount to his children. He makes a specialty of wheat- raising, and has harvested in one season as high as two thousand five hundred bushels. He also raises a large amount of clover-seed, and invests to a con- siderable extent in fine stock. His farm is well improved and in excellent condition.
OCTAVIUS ROBINSON
was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1815, and died May 19, 1871, aged nearly fifty-six years. In 1840 he came to America. Was married on the 18th of May of that year to Ann Mills, and left for America the 28th. On arriving in Michi- gan, Mrs. Robinson stopped a few days in Detroit, while her husband pushed on to Waterford township, Oakland County, and hired out to Daniel Windiate, with whom he stayed for some time. He rented a house, and brought his wife from Detroit and began housekeeping. About 1844-45 he removed to White Lake township, and located on section 2, where he lived the balance of his days. The farm was originally settled by one Daniel Gunn, from whom Mr. Robinson first rented and afterwards purchased it. It now contains three hundred and twenty acres.
Mrs. Robinson did not long survive her husband, and followed him to the "land of the hereafter" on the 15th of May, 1873, when fifty-nine years old.
Mr. and Mrs. Robinson were the parents of two children, of whom the elder, ROSAMOND, was born about 1841. The younger, a son, OCTAVIUS ROBINSON, JR., was born October 21, 1854. Rosamond is now the wife of John Walls, and
MRS. ROBERT GARNER.
ROBERT GARNER
RESIDENCE OF ROBERT GARNER, WHITE LAKE TP., OAKLAND CO, MICH.
R. D. VOORHEIS
RESIDENCE OF R. D. VOORHEIS.
MRS. R. D. VOORHEIS .
RESIDENCE OF R. D. VOORHEIS , WHITE LAKE CENTRE, OAKLAND CO., MICH.
SEBRING VOORHEIS.
MRS.SEBRING VOORHEIS
RESIDENCE OF SEBRING VOORHEIS, WHITE LAKE TP, OAKLAND CO., MICH.
RESIDENCE OF JAMES FAIR, ESQ., WHITE LAKE TP, OAKLAND CO., MICHIGAN.
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
resides in Macon county, Missouri. Octavius was married June 22, 1876, to Abigail Windiate, of Bloomfield township, and is living on the old farm.
Mr. Robinson was a member of the Masonic fraternity, and belonged to the lodge at Clarkston, Independence township. He was a prominent man among the Masonic brethren, and reached the degree of R.A.M. His funeral was con- ducted by members of lodges from Pontiac, Waterford, Clarkston, Holly, and Fentonville (Genesee county).
In politics he was a Democrat. His occupation was always farming, which he followed on a general plan. During the last few years of his life he turned his attention considerably to raising fine stock, his farm being well adapted to that purpose.
ALANSON J. WEBSTER,
son of Chester and Mary Webster, who settled in Pontiac township in 1823, was born in that township on the 21st of August, 1827. He was the third of a family of ten children. He lived in Pontiac township until 1851, and was married August 24, of that year, to Delia Richmond, of White Lake. A few days after their marriage the couple moved to the farm in the latter township, where Mrs. Webster is now residing. The land was originally settled by Stephen Fisk, who afterwards traded it to John Austin, the latter making the first improvements on the place.
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