History of Oakland County, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories, Part 55

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 55

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).

SECRET ORDERS.

Holly Lodge, No. 134, F. and A. M., was chartered A.L. 5859, with the fol- lowing officers and members :

John S. Huston, W. M .; James Patterson, S. W .; Dr. Martin, J. W .; Dr. Davis, secretary ; A. M. Joslin, William Sickles, Jerome Calkins, Matthew Moore- house, Everett Wendell, Henry S. Andrews. The present officers are W. H. Hovey, W. M .; Richard Howchin, S. W .; H. V. Weeden, J. W .; William Beebe, Treasurer ; William H. Jones, Secretary; William Moorehouse, S. D. ; E. E. Clark, J. D .; S. H. Whalen, Tyler.

12.07

RESIDENCE OF RICHARD HOUGHIN, COR. WASHINGTON & BAIRD STS., HOLLY , OAKLAND CO. MICH.

12 8. Pier (AGED 69 YEARS 2 MONTHS)

hary On. Vier (AGED 68 YEARS, 1 MONTH .)

RESIDENCE OF W. E. PIER , HOLLY, OAKLAND CO., MICHIGAN.

199

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

Ilolly Chapter, No. 80, R. A. M., was organized July 7, 1871, and has a mem- bership at present of about fifty. The officers are Bela Cogshall, H. P .; Daniel Seeley, K .; T. W. Lockwood, S .; D. E. Brewster, Secretary ; T. W. Lockwood, Treasurer; R. Howchin, C. H .; William H. Hovey, P. S .; William H. Van Steenberg, R. A. C .; J. G. Fisher, G. M. 3 V .; Lemuel Fullam, G. M. 2 V .; B. A. Calkins, G. M. 1 V .; S. H. Whalen, Sentinel.

Holly Council, R. and S. M., was organized in 1874. Present officers : Bela Cogshall, T. I. M. ; J. G. Fisher, D. I. M .; Richard Howchin, P. C. W .; Voris Green, C. G. ; - -- P. C. C .; E. E. Brewster, Secretary; Daniel Seeley, Treasurer ; Evans Buzzell, Sentinel.

Protection Lodge, No. 202, K. of H., meets second and fourth Tuesdays in each month. Organized December 14, 1875, by P. L. Teeples, Deputy Supreme Dictator. Charter members : De Witt C. Wade, Richard Howchin, L. H. Ripley, David Hobart, F. E. Starker, J. P. Boyd, William Wallace, Charles C. Green, E. Frank Blair, George E. Pomeroy, L. Truesdale, Thomas V. Perkins, M. A. Wat- son, Charles R. Pomeroy. First officers : R. Howchin, Dictator ; D. W. C. Wade, Past Dictator and representative to Supreme Lodge; D. Hobart, Vice Dictator; C. C. Green, Assistant Dictator ; E. F. Blair, Chaplain ; F. E. Starker, Guide; J. H. Stone, Reporter; L. H. Ripley, Financial Reporter ; G. E. Pomeroy, Treasurer ; C. R. Pomeroy, Guardian ; L. Truesdale, Sentinel; D. W. C. Wade, L. H. Ripley, and E. F. Blair, Trustees. The membership, July 1, 1876, was nineteen. The present officers are D. W. C. Wade, Dictator ; D. Hobart, Past Dictator ; E. F. Blair, Vice Dictator ; L. H. Ripley, Assistant Dictator ; J. B. Starker, Reporter ; Charles Pomeroy, Guide.

The Grand Lodge of Michigan was organized on the 30th of June, 1876.

The Masonic bodies occupy one of the best lodge-rooms in the State. It is located in the third story of the Balcony block, on Broad street. The lodge- room of the Knights of Honor is on the second floor of the same building, and is neatly furnished.

The Independent Order of Odd-Fellows organized a lodge in 1865, and after continuing about two years, and reaching a membership of forty or more, trouble arose, and the charter was finally surrendered.

Holly Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, was organized February 6, 1874, with thirty-four members. Milan Perry was the first Master; Marcus D. Elliott, Overseer; and Sylvester D. Mosin, Secretary. Its first meeting was held on the evening of February 24, 1874, and the first application for membership received at that time. The number of its members has increased from thirty-four to more than one hundred. The officers for its second year (1875) were-M. D. Elliott, Master; Win. W. Slocum, Overseer ; S. D. Mosin, Secretary. For 1876, Wil- liam W. Slocum, Master; Allen Campbell, Overseer; S. D. Mosin, Secretary. For 1877, Harrison Smith, Master; H. M. Elliott, Overseer ; S. D. Mosin, Secre- tary.

The recently organized Red Ribbon movement in the great cause of temperance and reform has met many warm supporters in the village, and everywhere the badge of the society is seen, and its motto, " Dare to do right," placarded. The Holly Red Ribbon club has engaged and fitted up a neat room on Saginaw street, and holds meetings every Monday evening. The club has a large membership, and prospers in its endeavors towards reforming the people.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

The first sermon preached in Holly by a minister of this denomination was in the spring of 1856, by Rev. Ira W. Donaldson. On the 1st of April, 1857, a class was organized by Rev. Thomas Wakelin, at that time preacher-in-charge of Grand Blanc circuit. This class consisted of seven members, viz. : William R. Kendall, Sara E. Kendall, Fidelia P. Wightman, Elizabeth Wakelin, Sophia C. Bird, Ira Wightman, and Abynia Warren.

The pastors of this society have been successively as follows : Revs. Thomas Wakelin, Isaac Crawford, John W. Crippin, Isaac C. Cochrane, L. C. York, John O. Bancroft, John G. Whitcomb, William Taylor, E. H. Pilcher, - Warner, Orlando Sanborn, S. B. Kimmel, and William Way,-the latter being the present pastor.

Up to July 1, 1876, three hundred and twelve persons had been in full connec- tion with the church, and at that time the number was one hundred and sixty- four, with thirty-two on probation.

The church, a substantial frame building, was erected in 1859, the contractor for the work being A. W. Buell. This was during the pastorate of Rev. Isaac Crawford. The building was dedicated by Bishop Simpson.

In September, 1870, the spire was shivered by lightning, but was repaired, and a bell weighing one thousand pounds hung in it the same year. This bell was first rung for service on the morning of New Year's day, 1871.

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

was organized in May, 1854, by Rev. L. I. Wicker, who continued its pastor for

a number of years,-five or six in all. The original number of members was thirteen. The society, though now small and without a pastor, are the owners of a neat brick church, the only one in town.

The pastors succeeding Mr. Wicker were Revs. A. Sleeper, John W. Noble, and William W. De Geer.

THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF HOLLY

was organized in 1839, at the Jones school-house, in the township of Rose. Its first pastor was Rev. Samuel Jones. In 1858 the congregation removed to Holly, and held services in the old school-house on Saginaw street, under the leadership of Rev. H. Stowitts.

In 1862 the present frame church was built, being at first somewhat smaller than it now is. It was enlarged to its present size in 1870, through the efforts of its pastor, Rev. J. H. Morrison.

A Sunday-school was organized in May, 1863, with James E. Church as super- intendent. The present number of pupils is about one hundred and fifty. The present pastor is Rev. Mr. Morrison.

THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

was organized in the school-house on Saginaw street, July 7, 1859, with the fol- lowing members, viz. : William Stiff and his wife Elizabeth, Clarissa Stiff, Wil- liam Johnson Stiff, H. H. Palmer and his wife Lucy, and Thomas Hadley and his wife Martha. The first pastor was Rev. George Winter.

The Sunday-school was organized in January, 1862, with a membership of thirty. The first superintendent was A. P. Waldo, and Mrs. Plum, Thomas Hadley, John Hadley, Margery Hadley, and William Hadley were teachers.

The church-the present frame building-was built in 1861, and occupied the first time January 1, 1862. The present membership of the society is between one and two hundred. The pastor is Rev. Joseph Swindt.

Among those who have furnished valuable information concerning the history of Holly township are the following-named persons :

M. M. Burnham, Esq. (article compiled in summer of 1876), William Young, Bela Cogshall, Martin Stiff, and others in the village; Peter Fagan, Edwin Ed- wards, Samuel and Reuben Green, Moses Smith, Ira Allen, A. R. Rood, Charles Warren, N. T. Elliott, William E. Pier, and others in the township.

We have drawn to considerable extent from Mr. Burnham's article, having found that it was generally correct ; besides is given a large number of items gathered from interviews with old settlers themselves. Occasionally different opinions are expressed on the same subject, and in such cases the information is given as received, and can best be definitely settled by the people themselves.

It is aimed to give a concise and truthful record of events from the days of log cabins, pioneer privations, and struggles in the wilderness, to the present, teeming with its evidences of prosperity, with a glance also at the business of to-day ; and the hope of the historian is that his labors may not have been performed in vain, and that their result may prove satisfactory and interesting to all concerned.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

WILLIAM E. PIER,

son of Moses and Marcia Pier, was born in Vergennes, Addison county, Vermont, March 15, 1808. On the 4th of October, 1831, he left that State, and came to Michigan, arriving in Detroit at the end of a sixteen days' trip. He was at the time unmarried, and was accompanied by a young man named E. S. Hitchcock, a cousin of the lady Mr. Pier afterwards married. Hitchcock finally settled near Galesburg, Knox county, Illinois.

When Mr. Pier came from Vermont he traveled from Albany to Schenectady over the then new railway between those points, thence by canal to Buffalo, being two weeks on the trip. From Buffalo to Detroit he came on the steamer " Henry Clay," soon afterwards lost. From Detroit he went via " Plymouth Corners," as it was then called, to Farmington, and afterwards to Pontiac, at which latter place he worked one month in the woolen-mill then operated by Judge Paddock, having learned the business while at home. He was then solicited to take charge of a district school, two and one-half miles east of Pontiac, and did so. He taught in this school and at Auburn village for two years and a half.

On the 11th of March, 1834, he was married to Mary M. Munger, and the same day removed with his bride to a farm he had purchased in the township of Farmington. They lived on that place until 1851, when Mr. Pier traded it for the farm where the new insane asylum now stands at Pontiac. On this place the family resided for sixteen years, or until 1867.

The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Pier took place in the second frame house ever built in Pontiac, which stood on the site now occupied by the Humphreys House.

200

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

Mrs. Pier came with her widowed mother from Cheshire (now Sullivan) county, New Hampshire, in June, 1832. She was born in that county April 12, 1809, at the town of Claremont. She was one of four children-one son and three daughters-who came with their mother to Michigan. Mrs. Munger had friends living in Oakland County, and a daughter in Washtenaw, and came west to visit them. She died in Farmington township in the spring of 1833.

Mr. Pier moved with his family to Groveland township from Pontiac, and lo- cated on a farm of two hundred acres he had purchased, where his son Benjamin S. Pier now lives. He stayed there several years, and finally let his son have that farm. and again removed, this time to the place where he now resides, on section 36. Holly township. This farm he had bought in 1870. He has followed farm- ing since the first two and a half years of his stay in Oakland County, and has been very successful in the business. The farm where he lives is well kept and finely improved, and in all respects a model. (See view.)

Mr. Pier was mustered with the militia during the famous " Toledo War" of 1835. but was never called out. In politics he is a Republican. While living in Farmington he was supervisor and assessor for three years, and township clerk two years. Also held the office of school inspector for some time. Both him- self and wife are members of the First Presbyterian church of Holly, in which organization Mr. Pier is the oldest of six elders, having held the position five years. He was long a member of the Congregational church of Farmington and Pontiac.

Mr. and Mrs. Pier are the parents of nine children,-three sons and six daugh- ters,-all living, married, and having families of their own. The grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. Pier number seventeen. The children are all living in Oakland and Genesee counties. Michigan, except a daughter, who resides at Oil City, Pennsyl- vania. It is remarkable that in this family, large as it is, there has never been a death, and all are in the full enjoyment of health and prosperity.

MARTIN STIFF

was born May 2, 1835, in Stevensburg, New Jersey. In 1842, when he was seven years of age, his father, William Stiff, emigrated with his family to Michi- gan. and located at Pontiac. William Stiff had followed the business of a mill- wright, and after coming to Michigan operated a grist-mill at Clintonville, in Waterford township, until 1857. During that year Martin Stiff and his father came to Holly, where they have since resided. Martin Stiff purchased the " Holly mills," then owned by William F. Hadley, and then containing two run of stone. He has since added five additional run, and a seventy-five horse-power steam engine, for use when the water is low. He employs ten regular hands, and does probably the largest business of the kind in the county. Besides manufac- turing a daily average of one hundred and fifty barrels of flour, he has a large custom trade. Most of the flour manufactured is shipped to points east, while a considerable portion goes to Toledo.

Mr. Stiff has made a remarkable success in his line, and both himself and his manufactures are widely known. He is the oldest of a family of three children, -two sons and one daughter. Was married in May, 1860, to Almira Bartow, also a native of New Jersey, but living at the time in Holly. Mr. and Mrs. Stiff are the parents of three children,-one son and two daughters,-all living.

In politics Mr. Stiff is a strong Republican. He and his wife are members of the First Presbyterian church of Holly.

SAMUEL GREEN.

The subject of this sketch was born in the State of New Jersey, February 3, 1832. In 1834 his father, John Green, removed with his family to Michigan, and settled in Independence township, Oakland County, where he purchased two hundred acres of land from second hands. The family at the time they came to Michigan consisted of Mr. Green, his wife, and seven children. Three were born afterwards in this State, and all are living, with the exception of one, in Oakland County. One son resides in Saginaw county. John Green died June 22, 1851, aged fifty-six years. His wife is yet living, at the age of seventy-three.

Samuel Green was married October 14, 1852, to Harriet A. Judd, a native of Saratoga county, New York, where she was born February 8, 1832. At the time of her marriage she was living in Independence township. Mr. and Mrs. Green have been blessed with a family of three children, their births occurring as follows:

CALISTA M., October 21, 1853; died February 8, 1858. ELLA E., February 19, 1856.

EURETTA J., September 13, 1861.

Ella E. Green is now the wife of Charles Buzzell, of Holly village.

In politics Mr. Green is a Democrat. He has two brothers living in the town- ship,-Morris, on a farm adjoining, and William, in the village of Holly.

Samuel Green came to the farm on which he is living early in March, 1854. The land, which comprises the southwest quarter of section 4, was entered from government by a man named Carerger, who lived in the State of New York. Mr. Green made the first improvements on the place. At the time he came it was mostly covered with "white oak grubs," and Mr. Green has, by his own labor, cleared it, and made it the finely-improved farm it is at present. He attends more especially to raising wheat, which is the most profitable crop of this section. For a better idea of his premises the reader is referred to the lithographic view inserted in this volume.

NATHAN T. ELLIOTT

was born May 21, 1821, in the town of Florida, Montgomery county, New York. His father, Alexis Elliott, was also a native of that county, and in 1829 removed with his family to Otsego county.

Nathan T. Elliott is the oldest of a family of seven children. When young he learned the broom-making trade, and still works at it occasionally. He removed from Otsego to Herkimer county, New York, and, in February, 1844, he and his father started for Michigan on foot. After walking as far as Rome, however, they began to think that a journey of several hundred miles on foot was not as pleasant as riding, consequently they took the cars from Rome to Buffalo. From there they again started afoot, and, after coming through Canada, walking most of the way, they arrived at last in Michigan, and finally came to the township of Holly. Some two or three years afterwards he purchased an interest in the farm now owned by Timothy Ostrander. In the mean time his father had re- turned to New York.

Mr. Elliott taught school to some extent while living in New York, and also in Michigan, both before and after his marriage. On the 21st of January, 1850, he was married to Williamine Broas, then visiting relatives in Holly township. She was born in the town of Union, Broome county, New York, July 26, 1830.

Mr. and Mrs. Elliott are the parents of seven children, of whom four are now living,-two sons and two daughters. The sons are both teachers. The daughters, ELLA GRACE and BERTHA J., are living at home. The elder son, CHARLES B. ELLIOTT, is at present attending the Northern Indiana Normal school, at Valpa- raiso, Indiana. The other son, D. CARTER ELLIOTT, is attending school at Fenton, Genesee county, Michigan.

Mr. Elliott was for several years school inspector in the township of Holly. In politics he is a Republican. He was formerly a Democrat, and facetiously remarks that " he is as much of one now as he ever was, but the party has left him !" He and his wife are both members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Holly, which society they united with soon after its organization. They were formerly members of the " Olive Branch Methodist Episcopal church," of Grove- land, and afterwards of the Methodist Episcopal church of Fenton, Genesee county.

Mrs. Elliott taught one term of school when she was young, and was entirely satisfied with the extent of her experience that far, and has never tried it since, although she was very successful as a teacher, as was also Mr. Elliott when in the same vocation.

When living on what is now the Ostrander place, in the neighborhood of the Olive Branch church, soon after their marriage they lost their property by fire. Mr. Elliott finally sold that farm, and in March, 1854, came to the one upon which he now resides, section 21. He owns at present one hundred and twenty acres, lying on sections 16 and 21. A man named Dennison Scranton made the first improvements on the place, built a log house, etc. Mr. Elliott lived with his family in this house until 1873, when he erected the fine brick residence he now occupies. (See view.)

The frame building now standing on the opposite side of the road from Mr. Elliott's house was originally used as a barn.

A cousin to Mr. Elliott's father, Peter Elliott,* settled on the farm now owned by W. Rexford, on section 29, as early as the fall of 1843. He had been out the same summer and purchased the land, and moved his family in the fall. His brother, Luke Elliott, came to the township several years later. Both are now deceased.

In common with all who came into this region when it was new, and worked their way perseveringly to wealth and independence, Mr. Elliott has seen his share of hard trials, reverses, and successes, and can look back on his life of thirty- three years in Michigan with the satisfaction that, by his own industry, he has accomplished so great results, and created the pleasant surroundings of his present home.

* Spelled on the old township records Eliot.

N. T. ELLIOTT.

MRS. N. T. ELLIOTT.

RESIDENCE OF N.T. ELLIOTT, HOLLY TP, OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

HOLLY MILLS

( FLOURING & CUSTOM MILLS.)

( RESIDENCE . )

PROPERTY OF M. STIFF. HOLLY, OAKLAND COUNTY, MICH.

HIGHLAND TOWNSHIP.

HIGHLAND was organized as a separate and distinct township by an act of the Territorial legislature, approved March 17, 1835. We quote the clause relating to the same, which is as follows :

" All that part of the county of Oakland comprised in surveyed township 3 north, range 7 east, by the name of Highland ; and the first township-meeting be held at the school-house on the farm of Jesse Tenny."

By section 3 of an act approved March 26, 1835, we find " that all that part of the county of Oakland comprised in surveyed township 3 north, range 7 east, and all that part of the county of Livingston attached to the county of Oakland for judicial purposes, shall be attached to, and comprise a part of, the township of Highland, for the purposes of township government."*

The proceedings of the first township-meeting, and other matters pertaining thereto, will be found in the succeeding pages, in their proper chronological order.

The name " Highland" was given to the new township because of its elevated position. Its surface was then supposed to be the highest land in the settled part of Michigan, and is possibly as high as any south of Saginaw. The water runs both north and south within the limits of the township. The Pettibone creek heads in section 10 and runs south ; and a branch of Buckhorn creek heads on section 3 and runs north, the heads of these streams not being much more than a mile apart.

The surface of the southwest part of the town is quite level, or gently rolling, the north part more hilly, and the northeast part hilly and marshy,-a part of it being very hilly, and aptly designated as " the knobs." The soil is mostly sandy loam. There is a strip one mile and a half wide, commencing in section 12, and running southwesterly to and through section 33, that is a light sandy soil, some of it being extremely light.

THE LAKES.

The township abounds in those beautiful bodies of water designated as lakes. There are twenty-two of these, of which the most important are Peninsular, Grass, Duck, Curtis, and Pettibone. Most of these (the only ones designated by names on the map) are named with reference to some local peculiarity, or after early settlers who resided on their banks.

INDIAN HISTORY.

There are but few incidents connecting the aborigine with the history of High- land. There formerly existed within the limits of the township, on the east side of section 34, a general camping-ground, where the Indians used to halt in their peregrinations through the forest, and there be those who still remember the camp- ing-ground, and the interesting scenes which its remembrance presents; they were here when the wilderness still waved in its pristine luxuriance; when the marsh- hay and the wild-flowers still covered lowlands and the hill-sides, and made the valley fragrant with their rich perfumes; when the deer continued to frequent his ancient haunts ; and when the habitations of the new settlers were so widely and so thinly scattered that the nearest neighbors could scarcely have exchanged the courtesy of the periodical visit without the aid of the seven-leagued boots of knightly days. But though in solitude, they lived without fear. There were none to molest or make them afraid. If they had few friends, they had no ene- mies. If the Indian halted at the settler's door it was to solicit hospitality, not to offer violence. But more frequently he stalked silently by, timid of giving offense to the white man, whom he doubtless regarded as an intruder upon his own ancestral domain, but whose possession he had been taught to respect, because he had ever found it guarded by a strong and swift arm, that had never failed to repay aggression with tenfold vengeance.

Their trails abounded in this township ; one entered it near the southeast cor- ner of section 35, and ran nearly northwest through the township, and was called the Shiawassee trail. This was intersected in southeast quarter of southwest quarter of section 35 by one from the south, called Walled lake trail, which was doubtless a by-road leading from the Grand river trail. All traces of both the Indians and his trails are now no more. Where he once trod exists the out- growth of modern civilization, as represented by the much-frequented roads and the hum of a busy population.

EARLY SETTLERS.

The first purchase of land in what now constitutes Highland township was

made by Naham Curtis, September 6, 1832. It was the east half of the south- east quarter of section 36. He and his brother Jeremiah sold out soon after- wards and left with the Mormons, a small settlement of whom existed in this neighborhood where the Curtises settled prior to 1836. James Aldrich, Richard . Willett, and Samuel Myers, Jr., purchased land in the township the same year. Naham Curtis came to Michigan from Pennsylvania, and settled at Pontiac as early as 1824. He had a large family, some of whom were grown up when he settled in Highland. We believe that none of his family now reside in the township or county.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Oakland County, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories, Part 55

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