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 67
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NOVI TOWNSHIP.
THE township of Novi-designated in the government survey as town 1 north, of range 8 east-has the county of Wayne for its southern boundary, and is joined on the north, east, and west, respectively, by the townships of Commerce, Farm- ington, and Lyon. Its soil is very productive, its surface everywhere rolling, but rather more so in the southern than in the northern part. There is some marshy land in the north, and a swamp of considerable size lies in the southwest, extend- ing to and across the town-line of Lyon.
Walled lake, a beautiful body of clear water, abounding with fish, covers nearly two-thirds the area of section 3, as well as a considerable portion of the westerly half of section 2; the larger portion of the lake-about five hundred and fifty acres-lying within the limits of Novi, the remainder, embracing the head of the lake, being in the town of Commerce. The origin of the name of this sheet of water was in the fact that many years ago there is said to have existed along its margin, at several points, rows of bowlders, which lay in such regular order that some imaginative people believed, and industriously disseminated their theory, that these had been placed in their position by the hands of Indians, in some remote day ; in other words, that the lake had been walled in by the red men, though it must have been a heavy tax on human ingenuity to assign any possible reason which could have operated to induce the indolent savages to perform the severe labor which would be necessary to the execution of such a work. Probably the true explanation of the existence of the " wall" is that the ice of the lake, crowding the rocks landward, little by little, each winter, for perhaps a thousand years, had at last ranged them in the positions in which the white man found them.
The outlet of Walled lake is at its southwestern point, from whence issues a stream of some size, which, with its small branches, are the only water-courses in the township. One of these rises in the east, near the Farmington line ; the other, and larger one, having its source in springs upon the Hills farm, in the northwest quarter of section 28. The main stream crosses the base-line at the cornering of sections 34 and 35, and thence pursues a southeasterly course to its confluence with the Rouge river, in Wayne county. Formerly, the outlet stream was of suf- ficient size to be made useful for mill purposes, but the clearing of the country, and the draining of swamps, have so reduced its volume that it is no longer avail- able, and now it turns no mill-wheel in all its course through Oakland County.
The Detroit and Howell plank-road (this being its legal name, though it is not a plank, but an excellent graveled turnpike) enters the township on the southeast quarter of section 24, and, passing northwestwardly in a right line, leaves it from the southwest of section 7. The track of the Holly, Wayne and Monroe rail- road enters from the south, at the southeast corner of section 34, and crosses the town-line into Commerce, from the northwest corner of section 5, having one station within the town, at Novi village.
Originally the township was heavily timbered, and the forest and the lake were favorite hunting-, fishing-, and camping-grounds of the Indians. Ancient burial- grounds of their people have been discovered in several localities, one being on the farm of William Tenney at Walled lake, and another on the land of John C. Emery, just east of the centre of section 26. Even yet the plow occasionally brings to the light long-buried relics of the people who once called these lands their own.
JOHN KESBY.
MRS. JOHN KESBY .
THE LATE RES. OF JOHN KESBY, NOW OWNED BY JONATHAN PHILLIPS, MILFORD TP, OAKLAND CO, MICH.
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...
A.J. WELSH.
MRS. L. A. WELSH.
RESIDENCE OF A. J. WELSH , (SEC. 29) NOVI TP., OAKLAND CO., MICH.
VIEW LOOKING S. E . WALLED LAKE INTHE DISTANCE.
RESIDENCE OF AMOS BENTLEY, SEC. 3, NOVI TP., OAKLAND CO., MICH.
.
231
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
FIRST SETTLERS.
The first white man who settled in that wilderness which became the township of Novi was Deacon Erastus Ingersoll, who came from Victor, Ontario county, New York. It was on the 26th day of April, 1825, that he arrived with his wife and nine children upon the southeast quarter of section 24, the cast half of which he had entered at the land-office on the twentieth of the preceding September. His, however, was not the first entry of land within the present boundaries of the township ; the precedence in that particular belonged to John Gould, who, earlier in the same month (September 3, 1824), had entered the northeast quarter of sec- tion 36; and there were also several other entries bearing even date with that of the deacon, viz., those of Benjamin Bentley, on parts of sections 23 and 25; of Pitts Tafft, on the southwest quarter of section 34, and also on section 33; and of Joseph Eddy, on the northeast quarter of section 34.
On the morning following his arrival, Mr. Ingersoll, with the help of his son, E. S. Ingersoll, now of Eaton county, Michigan, commenced felling trees and clearing a space for the establishment of their home and the erection of the first house in Novi,-though then it was in Bloomfield, under which name, until 1827, was comprehended not only the present towns of Bloomfield and West Bloomfield, but also those of Royal Oak, Troy, Southfield, Farmington, Novi, Commerce, Mil- ford, and Lyon. On the east, now the town of Farmington, they had neighbors within comparatively easy distance: Arthur Power, an enterprising Quaker, Dr. Ezekiel Webb, George W. Collins, George Brownell, Samuel Mansfield, Wardwell Green, Hezekiah B. Smith, Solomon Walker, Howland Mason, Timothy Tolman, Orrin Garfield, and a few others. Some of these were six or seven miles away, but in those days men might live double that distance apart and be neighbors still. In this case, as in others at that time, each readily and cheerfully gave a half-day's assistance, and this, with his own and his son's diligent labor, enabled Mr. Ingersoll to move into and occupy his new house on the 10th of May, twenty- three days after the felling of the first tree upon its site. Settlers' houses have often been built in much less than that time, but perhaps in this case the weather was unfavorable, and probably the deacon's house was of unusual size and preten- sions. As to the eligibility of his location and the fertility of his land, they were certainly among the best in the township then, as now. On the 10th of May, the same day on which he first occupied his new house, he made a further entry on the same section,-24. E. R. Ingersoll, son of Erastus, relates that after their set- tlement there the Indians (of whom there was a village or encampment of some three hundred at Walled lake, and who were their only neighbors on the west) supplied the family with venison and fish for some three or four years.
It was not long that they continued to be the only settlers in the township. During the month of May, John Gould settled upon the northeast quarter of section 36, and commenced the erection of buildings, although his family did not arrive until the 20th of March in the following year. He remained a resident of Novi for seven years, and removed to Salem, Washtenaw county, in the spring of 1832.
Joseph Eddy came from Wayne county, New York, and settled on the north- east quarter of section 34, and Pitts Tafft established himself upon the southwest quarter of the same section. Both these came in the autumn of 1825. Mr. Myra Gage, now of Novi Corners, distinctly recollects assisting at the erection of Mr. Eddy's log house. He (Eddy) afterwards moved away, for the sake of more " elbow-room," and settled in Clinton county, where he died.
Pitts Tafft, upon his arrival, at once set about preparing ground for wheat, and succeeded in getting in a small field in the fall of 1825. This was cut in the succeeding July, and was the first wheat ever harvested in the township.
These above mentioned are believed to have been the only families who made permanent settlement in the town in the year 1825, but there were many others who came in that year, searching for locations on which to erect their future homes. Among these were William Yerkes and Thomas Pinkerton, two young men (cousins) from Romulus, Seneca county, New York, who traveled thence to Buffalo, where they embarked on the old steamboat " Superior," and landed at Detroit on the 20th of April, 1825, just a week before Erastus Ingersoll com- menced clearing the ground for his house, on section 24. No doubt they expe- rienced some feeling of discouragement as they turned their faces towards the northwest, from Detroit, and floundered through the seas of mud which lay be- tween that city and the place of their destination, but they kept resolutely on, and in due time reached the lands on which they afterwards settled. While there making their selections they encountered another party, who had minutes of the same tracts which they had determined upon entering, and this circumstance cut short their stay, and hurried them back to Detroit to be first at the land-office. Using every effort to reach the city in the least possible time, they took the Indian trail, and hurried on by way of George W. Collins' place, in Farmington, stopped at Thibaud's fifteen-mile house, traversed the muddy swamps, which in many places seemed to be almost bottomless, and arrived in town at night, on the
29th of April, and at the opening of the land-office on the following morning made their entries, namely, William Yerkes, on section 36 and the southeast quarter of 35, and Thomas Pinkerton, the southeast quarter of 25. From De- troit they returned to Seneca county, and commenced arrangements for the trans- fer of their homes to the (then) far west.
On the 10th of March following they again turned their faces towards Michi- gan,-this time to make the journey on foot, with knapsack on back and axe in hand. They crossed the Niagara river at Lewiston, and proceeded west through the region then known as Upper Canada. Notwithstanding the melting snow, the mud, and the many obstacles, they accomplished the entire distance of more than four hundred miles in fourteen days, arriving March 24, 1826, in a disgusted and rather homesick frame of mind. On the 27th they commenced the work of chopping and fencing,-Mr. Pinkerton working in the employ of his uncle, Joseph Yerkes (father of William Yerkes, Esq.), who entered upon lands just south of them, and across the base-line. He received from his uncle the sum of eleven dollars per month, and continued to labor for him until the 27th of the following November, eight months, and then commenced the clearing of his own tract on section 25. For a time he boarded at the house of Mr. John Gould, who was just south of him, and who was the second settler in Novi. Mr. Pink- erton was then a bachelor, and so continued until September 20, 1827, when he married Deborah Prudden at Romulus, Seneca county, New York.
William Yerkes had already a family of several children, who followed him to their new home, and formed a part of the colony of sixteen souls who came west under the leadership of the young pioneers from Seneca county. They all bore the name of Yerkes, excepting Pinkerton, Stephen Hayward, and Richard Bough- ton, and they ranged from one year to fifty-six years in age,-the oldest being Joseph Yerkes, who settled across the base-line, and the youngest being an infant child of William Yerkes. They came by water from Buffalo to Detroit, being ten days on the passage from port to port, and four weeks on the whole journey. From Detroit the party and their movables were transported to their destination upon four wagons, two of which were their own, and drawn by their own oxen, and the other two were the horse-teams of Diodate Hubbard and John Hamilton, of Piety Hill, now Birmingham. Upon reaching Pinkerton's place, the southeast corner of section 25, Hamilton and Hubbard positively refused to proceed far- ther, and left their loads there, to be returned for by the ox-teams. Of that party of sixteen ten are still living (1877), at ages varying from fifty-six to eighty- three years, the eldest being William Yerkes, Esq., and another being his old companion, Thomas Pinkerton, aged seventy-five,-both hale and active, and both living upon the lands which they bravely commenced clearing more than fifty-one years ago.
The other survivors of that party of immigrants are Mrs. Wm. Yerkes, Joseph Yerkes, Wm. P. Yerkes, Joseph D. Yerkes, Mary and Sally (Utley), daughters of Wm. Yerkes, Richard Boughton, and Stephen Hayward. Old Time has cer- tainly dealt very kindly with them !
Thomas Watts, an Englishman, settled early in the spring of 1826. He had located his lands in the previous fall (October 8, 1825), viz., one hundred and sixty acres on section 27, and eighty acres on section 26. He settled on the first- named tract. Afterwards he sold a part, or all of these lands, to Mrs. Thornton.
Samuel Hungerford and James Wilkinson came from Watertown, New York, and made entries-Wilkinson on section 33, and Hungerford on section 34+- June 7, 1825 ; after which they worked in the employ of Dr. Ezekiel Webb, of Farmington. In 1826 they both settled on the lands which they had entered the previous year. Wilkinson married a sister of William Yerkes, Esq. He said to Joshua Simmons that, upon his arrival in Novi, after purchasing his land, his whole capital was his axe and a small bundle tied in a pocket-handkerchief. Af- terwards he sold his land and moved upon section 8. Colonel Hungerford filled many public offices during his long life, and was held in high esteem by his fellow- townsmen. He went to California in 1849, and remained eleven years. After his return he lived with his son, William P. Hungerford, at Northville, where he died in the year 1875, at the age of seventy-six. Philo Hungerford made entry on section 34 in May, 1825. Benjamin Hungerford also entered on section 33, and settled there late in the year 1826. About the same time Daniel Bentley established himself on section 25, and on the 31st of October Benjamin A. Hance entered a part of section 2, but did not settle upon it until the spring of 1827, when John Hiles also settled on 26, and Thomas M. Gould on the northeast quarter of the same section.
ORGANIZATION WITH FARMINGTON.
An act of the legislative council, approved April 12, 1827, established the town of Farmington. By its operation the township division proclaimed by the gov- ernor in 1820 became inoperative, and the present towns of Commerce, Milford, Lyon, and Novi ceased to be included with Bloomfield, and became parts of Farm-
232
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
ington. One of the first justices of the peace appointed for that town was Wil- liam Yerkes, and other Farmington offices were filled by citizens of this town ; but their names cannot be given, as the records containing the minutes of that election were destroyed in the Farmington fire, in 1872.
FIRST SCHOOLS.
The first school in the township of Novi was opened in the autumn of 1827, in a log building near the base-line, on the farm of Pitts Tafft. It probably fell far short of the schools of the present day in educational facilities and appliances, but answered its purpose well, and was most creditable to the few and impoverished settlers in the town at that time. It was, of course, supported by subscription, and it continued its first session from November until February, 1828. The teacher was Hiram Wilmarth, of Farmington. Soon after, he settled in Novi, on section 34, not far from Tafft's. He was not only school-teacher, but surveyor, and in this last-named capacity he was very extensively employed through all the surrounding country.
The second school in the township (a summer term) was taught by a Miss Light, on the northeast quarter of section 25. A school-house was afterwards (1832) built on the southwest quarter of the same section, and others, in due time, in other parts of the township, as the settlers increased in number; but there was no public school system, nor any subdivision of the township into school districts, for some years, the law directing such laying off into districts being approved April 13, 1833.
POST-OFFICE.
The first post-office in the township was established in the year 1827, and des- ignated as West Farmington, a name which was at that time applied to the entire township of Novi (the town now Lyon being at the same time known as West Farmington, Junior). John Gould was the first postmaster, and the office was located at his house. The establishment of this post-office was mainly the result of the efforts of Dr. Ezekiel Webb, the postmaster at Farmington Centre. The office brought no emolument to the postmaster other than the revenue produced by the postage on the letters delivered and the privilege of franking his own cor- respondence. The second postmaster was Dr. J. C. Emery.
OTHER EARLY SETTLERS.
Among those who entered lands in the township up to 1830, in addition to those already mentioned, were : On section 26, John Powers, March, 1825 ; John Miles, James Vanduyne, May 24, 1827; Isaac Vanduyne,-the last two settled in the spring of 1828. On section 27, Lyman W. Andrus, December, 1828,- settled at same time ; Mrs. Thornton, settled 1827; Gamaliel Simmons, June 23, 1827. On section 23, Robert Mckinney, October, 1824; Willard Wadsworth, April, 1825; David A. Simmons, on northeast quarter, March, 1827; Thomas M. Gould, on southeast quarter, August, 1828; David Guile, on southwest quar- ter, September, 1829, and settled same autumn. On section 28, Samuel White, June, 1827 ; Myron Garfield, settled 1827 .; Randall Chapman, June, 1828, and settled same year. On section 22, N. C. Prentiss, October 7, 1824; Philip Shaw, on southwest quarter, and also on southeast quarter of section 21, Septem- ber, 1829, and settled on 21 soon after ; he died October 4, 1876, in the ninety- seventh year of his age. On section 25, Timothy Farles, October, 1824; Joseph Yerkes, June, 1826; William B. Garfield, June 6, 1827; Captain Stanton Haz- zard settled on northwest quarter in 1829. On section 15, Cornelius Davis and N. C. Prentiss, October, 1824; Richmond C. Simmons, June 13, 1825. On sec- tion 35, Samuel Mansfield, March, 1825; John Spinney, on the southwest quar- ter, September, 1826; Abraham Vanduyne, June, 1828, and settled in the fall of the same year. On section 13, Thomas Mulford, in 1827, and Samuel Mul- ford, July, 1829. On section 14, Ephraim Hick, June. 1825; Joshua Phillips, September, 1826. On section 36, Keuben Fitzgerald, June. 1825, and Dr. J. C. Emery, who came from Seneca county, New York, and settled on the base-line, in the southeast corner of the section, in the year 1829; he was the first resident physician in West Farmington (Novi), and succeeded John Gould as postmaster when the latter removed to Washtenaw county, in 1832.
In June, 1825, Ebenezer Stewart entered on section 33, and William Tenney on section 3, where he settled in 1827. Cornelius Austin also settled on the same section in that year, and is still living there, at an advanced age. In 1827, Sir Henry Herrington (not a baronet, but a plain citizen ) established near Walled lake, William Rice, on section 32, and Ira Crawford located on section 1. M. Van Amburgh, Orange Van Amburgh, and B. F. Hanner also came in about the same time.
In 1828, Ruel Sherman settled on the southeast quarter of section 26; and Horace W. Vaughn, James Malloy, Colonel Spencer, John Mitchell, and Smith Parks were among the number who came during that year.
Asaph Smith came in 1830, and settled on the northwest quarter of section 15. With him came his five sons, Asaph Clemendon, John H., Calvin, Benja-
min P., and Warren. John Renwick also came in that year, and Apollos Cud- worth settled on the northwest quarter of section 23, and Benjamin Brown on the southeast quarter of section 15. Old Mr. Brown, the father of Benjamin, located near Walled lake, and died at the great age of ninety-nine years. Mr. Bishop, father of Levi Bishop, died at almost precisely the same age, -ninety-nine years and fourteen days,-and these two patriarchs were the oldest people who ever lived in Novi.
The following, the precise dates of whose entry and settlement cannot be given, were among the early comers :- John Waterman, William Woodman, Benajah, Saveril, and Amerdon Aldrich, Lewis Britton, on section 22; Henry and Zach- ariah Eddy, John Chambers, Peter Plowman, Henry Courter, Merritt Randolph, Louis Vradenburgh, Charles Thornton, section 21 ; Cyrenius Simmons, northwest quarter of section 27; Brayton Flint, Loren Flint, southwest quarter of section 10; John Blain, Edward Butterfield, and Phillip Burritt.
Below are mentioned a few of the immigrants who came soon after 1830: David and William W. Entrican, from Massachusetts, arrived in 1831, the former taking eighty acres on section 22, and the latter the south half of southwest quar- ter of section 14. David still lives in the township, and William is a resident of Ionia county. Daniel Durfee, a Quaker from Long Island, New York, came in 1831, and settled on section 9; Samuel Rodgers in 1832, and Jesse Hazen in the same year. He brought with him a wife and eight children, and settled with them on the northwest quarter of section 14. Mr. Hazen was from the State of New York, one of a family of five brothers and two sisters; one of the sisters was Mrs. Cham- plin Green, and a brother was Paul W. Hazen of Plymouth, Wayne county. Jesse died at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. John M. Norton, in the township of Avon, October 9, 1873, at the age of seventy-one years. Owen F. Whipple, a cooper from Allegheny county, New York, came in 1832, and took forty acres on the southeast quarter of section 15, where he is still living. James Sanford came in 1833, and made extensive purchases of lands in the southeast quarter of section 5, in the southwest quarter of section 4, the northeast quarter of section 8, and in the northwest quarter of section 9. Afterwards he purchased an entire section in Reading township, Hillsdale county. Joseph Perkins came in 1835, and bought on section 8. He is now living at Novi Corners, the oldest man in the town.
FIRST MECHANICS' SHOPS, MILLS, ETC.
A blacksmith-shop, opened by David Guile in the fall of 1829, was among the earliest if not the very first of the mechanical industries established in the township. It was located just west of the creek, on the southern line of the southwest quarter of section 23. Another shop was built a little later by Daniel Johnson, Sr., a blacksmith who had first halted at Northfield, but after a short stay there had removed to section 7 in Novi.
Rudolph Sebring opened a wheelwright- and wagon-shop on the northeast corner of section 36, and Zachariah Eddy plied the trade of shoemaker on section 35. Both these commenced work at very early time, and were the first in their respective lines in the township.
In 1830 the first saw-mill in the town was built by David Guile, on the outlet creek above his blacksmith-shop. The second saw-mill was erected by A. Clemen- don Smith, in 1833. Its location was in the extreme northwest corner of section 15, upon the same stream, about a mile and a half from the point where it leaves Walled lake. This mill was afterwards destroyed by fire. Smith then sold the site, with his farm, to Mr. Richardson. He in turn sold the mill-seat to G. A. Durfee, who rebuilt the mill, which was then for some time known as the Durfee mill; but after a few years it was discontinued, for the reasons that logs had become comparatively scarce, and that complaints were made of the damage done both to property and to the general health, by reason of the flowage which set back for a considerable distance on sections 9 and 10, and under these circumstances it was considered to be inexpedient and unprofitable to keep it in running condition. The old building is now a sheep-barn, on the farm of Mr. Durfee.
A third saw-mill was built on the outlet stream, and put in operation by Bena- jah and Saveril Aldrich immediately after the starting of the mill by Smith. The Aldrich mill was situated in the southeast quarter of section 34, where the rail- road now crosses the creek on the land of Robert Yerkes, the track running directly over the old site. Above this, and yet below Guile's mill, a fourth saw-mill was afterwards built by Mr. Bartlett; but both its capacity and its business were very small, and it never became a mill of much note among the settlers. For a con- siderable time after their coming the first settlers had no grist-mills nearer than Auburn or Pontiac, which made the procuring of flour a matter of great labor and inconvenience; but in 1827 this was materially lightened by the erection of Steele's mill near Farmington centre; and then came the opening of the North- ville mill, by Nash and Miller, in the fall of 1828, which was as convenient as could be desired to a great portion of the inhabitants of the southern portion of the township.
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