History of Oakland County, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories, Part 79

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 79

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On his way from New York to Michigan, Mr. Wendell drove through via Canada with a team, while his father came up Lake Erie. Joseph C. Wendell has become one of the most prominent men in the township, as a reference to the list of officers will show.

The first white child born in the township was probably Daniel Gage, whose birth occurred in October, 1836. His father, David Gage, lived at the time in a shanty on land now owned by J. C. Wendell, the latter going through the woods to Fenton after a physician when Daniel was born, and finding his way with great difficulty. Among the early births was that of a child of Everett Wendell, which lived but one week.

David Gage settled in the township in the spring of 1836, and at once began to keep " public-house" at his rude shanty. He had lived in Farmington town- ship for some time before coming to Rose, and was formerly from the State of New York. When he first settled in Rose he broke up a small piece of ground and planted some potatoes, which were among the first planted in the township. Subsequent to 1836 he opened a regular tavern on his place, having built a larger and better house, his old shanty proving too small and uncomfortable. At the same time a man named Beebe was keeping a tavern near by, and one was soon after started at Rose Corners by a man named Nichols. Everett Wendell was also running one in a log house about two miles south, on the White lake road. He afterwards purchased the " Buckhorn tavern," which was built about 1846- 48, by Ahasuerus W. Buell, who subsequently went to Holly village and opened a store.

At the time the " Buckhorn tavern" was built the mail-route from Pontiac to Shiawassee was over the White lake road, and a line of stages was either in operation then or began to run soon after. When the tavern was built the mail was carried on horseback.

A post-office had been established at Buckhorn as early as 1837-38, and the first postmaster was John A. Wendell. The office was named " Rose," after the township, which had recently been organized.

After Buell built his tavern he carried it on for a year or a year and a half, and sold it to Everett Wendell, after which he built a store on the opposite side of the road. The store proved a profitable investment, and Mr. Buell had plenty of business. He also had a small tannery, in which he tanned buckskins, and made them up into mittens. In a building which he had erected for a tannery, but never used for that purpose, he opened a small shoe-shop. After his removal to Holly he was finally elected to the legislature, and died in office.

" Beebe's tavern" was kept by Anson Beebe, and was between Rose Corners and Gage's tavern-stand. He settled in the township in 1836, and opened his tavern the same year.

Travelers are now kept occasionally at the old " Buckhorn tavern," although its proprietor, William Burt, does not get custom enough to pay him for taking out a license. The building is used as a place in which to hold the township- meetings, etc.

Rose post-office is now kept by Warren A. Breed, on section 26. The first postmaster, John A. Wendell, held the office nearly to the time of his death, which occurred in 1858, when he was sixty-nine years of age. After his decease his son, Everett Wendell, was appointed, and held it until the beginning of Lin- coln's administration (1861), when the office was given to Abel K. Crosby. The latter had charge only about six months, after which Mr. Breed was appointed, and has held the position to the present. The mail-route is between Rose and Holly, and the mail is delivered at Rose semi-weekly. Van Dyke Wendell is the carrier.

The cemetery on section 27 was laid out in 1837, on land taken from the farm then owned by John A. Wendell. The first burial in it was that of the pre- viously-mentioned child of Everett Wendell. The lot contains a trifle less than three-fourths of an acre, and is the property of the township. Its location is high and dry, and quite picturesque.

The one on section 20 was laid out about 1840-41, and is also township property. Another one is located on section 13, the first burial in it being that of Harriet, a daughter of H. and Ruth Seaver, who died March 30, 1851, aged six years and a half.

The first death in the township was that of a child of Alvah Coffin. The child was but a year old, was named Melissa, and was a sister of Mrs. J. C. Wendell. It was buried on Mr. Wendell's farm.

Alvah Coffin settled in the township of Waterford in 1836, a few weeks after Mr. Wendell located in Rose. He brought his wife and three children with him; and at the time of his daughter's death was visiting Mr. Wendell. In 1838 he sold his Waterford property and moved into Rose.

Elias Doty settled in Rose township with his father, Isaac Doty, in 1836. The family was from the town of Solon, Cortland county, New York. The elder Doty brought his family, consisting of his wife and six children,-three sons and three daughters,-to Michigan in 1828, and settled at Ypsilanti, Washtenaw county, where he built one of the earliest woolen-mills in the State. It is said to have been the first by some, but the fact of there being woolen-mills in Oakland County as early as 1824-25 places a damper on that assertion.

Elias Doty, when he first settled in Rose, purchased the farm next east of his present one, lying partly on section 36, and afterwards exchanged with his oldest brother for the place he now occupies, on the same section. Mr. Doty possesses a finely-improved farm, a view of which will be found in this work.

Hiram A. Wheeler came from Cattaraugus county, New York, in October, 1838, with his wife and two children,-a son and a daughter,-and settled in Rose township. In the year 1840 they located on the farm where Mr. Wheeler now lives,-section 29. Mr. Wheeler was the first settler on the place, and made the first improvements, although the land had been entered by a man named Whitehouse. Mr. Wheeler built a log shanty on his property, and for a door hung up a stable-door he had procured of a neighbor. In this shanty he lived for a short time. He cleared some land and sowed a couple of acres of wheat, from which he harvested enough to thrash out forty-eight bushels, using an old-fashioned thrashing-machine.

Mrs. Wheeler wove the first woolen cloth that was made in the town of Rose, the material having been brought to her from Farmington. Mrs. Wheeler's mother (Mrs. Merrill) and her three sons lived near by, having settled about eighteen months previously. They first located in Monroe county, in 1833, after- wards came to Milford, Oakland County, and finally to Rose. They were origi- nally from Caledonia county, Vermont, and had also lived in the State of New York. Joshua Merrill died in Milford township.

A man named John Gardner lived in a small log hut half a mile north of Mr. Wheeler's, and had about two acres cleared when the latter came.

MRS. S. C. SKIDMORE . (FIRST WIFE )

SOLOMON C. SKIDMORE.

MRS. S. C.SKIDMORE. (SECOND WIFE)

---

RESIDENCE OF SOLOMON C. SKIDMORE , ROSE TP, OAKLAND CO., MICH.

george gardiner

margaret Gardiner

RESIDENCE OF GEORGE GARDINER , ROSE TP., OAKLAND CO., MICH.

263.

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

Almont Heath was also an early settler of the neighborhood. Edward Chase is an old settler of Michigan, though not long a resident of Oakland County.

One of the early settlers of the township was Asa Reynolds, Esq., now residing at Fenton, Genesee county. He was a prominent citizen and held many positions of public trust, which he filled with great satisfaction to all.

Caleb Everts, now living on section 20, is a native of Rutland county, Ver- mont, and removed from there with his parents to Washington county, New York, when quite small. They afterwards settled in the town of Wheatland, Monroe county, where Mr. Everts' father, Gilbert Everts, died in 1827. In the fall of 1836, Caleb Everts made his first trip to Michigan, and located land in Hillsdale county. He returned to New York, married, and in the spring of 1837 came again to this State, but stayed only a short time. In the fall of 1840 he purchased the place where he now lives of Warren Hitchins, who had made the first im- provements upon it, and in October, 1841, removed to it with his family. He has since accumulated a large property.

William Fillingham emigrated to the United States from Lancashire, England, in 1843, and settled in Pontiac, Michigan, where he lived for twelve years, and afterwards removed to his present location on section 16, Rose township. He owns land also on section 17. He brought his wife with him from England, and they have had eight children born to them, of whom seven are now living. The farm which Mr. Fillingham owns was entered by Joseph Fuller, who had made but few improvements upon it when Mr. Fillingham purchased it.

Silas Newell is a native of Greenville, Greene county, New York, and resided there until he was twenty-two years of age, when, in 1826, he removed to Sodus, Wayne county. Here he lived until 1838, when he emigrated to Michigan, and on coming to Oakland County settled in the town of Rose with his wife and six sons. He had in 1837 purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land on the northwest quarter of section 10 from Elder Samuel Jones. It was entirely unim- proved, and Mr. Newell found it necessary to bare his arm and begin the work of building him a home and carving for himself a fortune where all was as nature had left it. He purchased additional land in the neighborhood, and in 1867 sold his farm and removed to Fenton, Genesee county. After settling, his family was increased by the birth of two daughters. All his children are yet living except two sons, who died in 1841.

. When Mr. Newell and family came west, they followed the route usually taken by immigrants, viz., to Buffalo on the canal, and from Buffalo to Detroit via Lake Erie. They arrived at their new home in Rose on the 1st day of June, 1838. Mr. N. is now living in Rose township with his daughter, Mrs. Daniel W. Oren.

Rose is one of the latest-settled townships in Oakland County, and is wanting in many incidents of pioneer life which characterize the settlements of older townships. Yet the first who ventured into its limits to make themselves homes had many hardships to bear and a long succession of difficulties to surmount. A first settlement in any part of the country ten miles or more from a village or ready market, meant in those days that the settler must undergo many trials which are unknown in older regions. Wild animals abounded and game of all kinds was plenty, so that with a good rifle, plenty of ammunition, and a steady hand the settler need not want for meat. At certain seasons of the year the people were nearly all sick with the ague, that dread disease which seems indi- genous to a new country. Frequently the number of persons exempt from the " shakes" was scarcely adequate to care for those who were afflicted.

The Indians who lived in the region were usually quiet and peaceable, and many an instance is related of their bringing supplies of food to the settlers and attending to the wants of the sick, as if they were indeed brothers. Many are the Indian reminiscences yet preserved by those of the pioneers now living, and the memory of the "red man" is cherished with generally pleasant feelings of regard and gratefulness for favors received at his hands.

The name " Buckhorn," given to the lakes, creek, and tavern near the central portion of the township, is said to have been bestowed by Isaac I. Voorheis, of Waterford township, who was through here at an early day hunting land. He found a pole about twenty feet long laid across the creek, and upon it were hung a large number of the antlers of the buck, which undoubtedly had been left there by the Indians.

THE FIRST TOWN-MEETING

for the township of Rose was held on Monday, April 3, 1837. John A. Wen- dell was chosen moderator, and M. W. Easton clerk ; Benjamin Hicks, Samuel Jones, and Jonathan Bennett were appointed inspectors of election. The fol- lowing township officers were duly elected, viz. :

Supervisor, John A. Wendell; Town Clerk, Henry Phelps; Justices of the Peace, Henry Phelps, Pardon Hicks, Jonathan Bennett, John A. Wendell; Assessors, Joseph C. Wendell, Pardon Hicks; Highway Commissioners, J. C. Wendell, Abraham Wortman, Pardon Hicks; Poor-masters, John A. Wendell, Eber Weed ; Board of School Inspectors, Jonathan Bennett, Eber Weed, Ben-

jamin Hicks; Collector, Everett Wendell ; Constables, Everett Wendell, William J. Lane, Stephen Hovey ; Path-master, David Gage.

The supervisors from 1838 to 1877, inclusive, have been as follows : 1838-40, John A. Wendell; 1841, Chester Buck ; 1842, John A. Wendell; 1843, John Galloway ; 1844, John A. Wendell; 1845-46, D. Burrows; 1847-49, Moses B. Jones ; 1850-51, Asa Reynolds; 1852, James Brownell; 1853-57, Joseph C. Wendell; 1858-59, Asa Reynolds; 1860,, Joseph C. Wendell; 1861, Charles F. Hadley; 1862-66, Asa Reynolds ; 1867-72, Charles F. Hadley ; 1873-77, Joseph C. Wendell.

Township Clerks .- 1838, Asher B. Webster ; 1839, John A. Wendell; 1840- 44, Joseph C. Wendell; 1845, Daniel W. Hollister; 1846-47, Joseph C. Wen- dell ; 1848-49, Ahasuerus W. Buell; 1850-51, Everett Wendell; 1852-53, A. W. Buell ; 1854, L. D. Jennings ;- 1855-60, Everett Wendell ; 1861-62, Solomon C. Skidmore; 1863-64, Charles Sullivan ; 1865-66, Everett Wendell ; 1867, S. C. Skidmore ; 1868, Thomas E. Boget; 1869-70, Duane D. Lapham ; 1871, William W. Slocum ; 1872, S. C. Skidmore; 1873-77, William G. Miller.

Justices of the Peace .- 1838, Asa Reynolds ; 1839, John A.' Wendell, James K. Wortman ; 1840, James K. Wortman; 1841, B. C. Covert; 1842, Asa Rey- nolds ; 1843, John A. Wendell; 1844, John A. Wendell, James K. Wortman ; 1845, M. W. Easton ; 1846, Asa Reynolds; 1847, William R. Webster, James Brownell; 1848, John Hadley, Jr .; 1849, William R. Webster; 1850, John Galloway ; 1851, James Brownell; 1852, Moses B. Jones; 1853, John Hadley ; 1854, Asa Reynolds ; 1855, Abel K. Crosby ; 1856, Gershom G. Everts; 1857, John Hadley, Jr. ; 1858, John Hovey ; 1859, Abel K. Crosby ; 1860, Herod A. Kinney ; 1861, John . Hadley, Jr. ; 1862, Noah G. Kelsey; 1863, Benjamin S. Pier; 1864, H. A. Kinney, Merchant E. Ruggles; 1865, Joseph C. Wendell ; : 1866, Noah G. Kelsey ; 1867, Merchant E. Ruggles; 1868, Milton M. Burn- ham ; 1869, Henry V. D. Boget; 1870, William W. Slocum, John Highfield ; 1871, Patrick Gordon, D. Hollister ; 1872, Phineas Baits ; 1873, Thomas Alder ; 1874, Milan Perry; 1875, Robert C. Stiff; 1876, David W. Snover; 1877, Edmund Fillingham (two others not sworn).

SCHOOLS.

Probably the first school-house in the township was built near the site of the present frame school-building in district No. 4. The original was also a frame, and was erected in the summer of 1837. The first teacher was a young lady named Lucinda Beebe, whose father, Anson Beebe, has been previously men- tioned as having kept a tavern as early as 1836.

In the winter of 1837-38 a school-house was built in what is now district No. 2, and was the second one in the township. The summer following (1838) two school-houses were erected, one at Rose Corners-now district No. 3-and the other in the Hadley neighborhood, now known as district No. 1.

The old school-house in district No. 1 was built of logs, and stood nearly on the site of the present frame building. The timber for the school-house now standing in this district was cut by Peter W. Sutton, about 1856-57, and this house is now one of the best in the township.

. At present there are seven school buildings in the township, all good and sub- stantial structures, and the facilities for obtaining a common-school education which are here afforded are probably equal to those of any other township in the county. The school-houses of Rose are all located on high and dry ground, thus being healthful and pleasant.

. The early schools were hardly such as would compare with those of the present in many cases, and yet they supplied the wants of the settlers, and in their day were all that was required. Many who received their first rudiments of an edu- cation at these schools have since become "powers in the land," and made for themselves marks which are worthy of emulation by those who shall come after them.

The history of the past in all parts of this region is replete with adventures which would of themselves fill many a volume of goodly size. Yet, as it is im- possible here to give the reminiscences of all, that task is left for other hands to perform. Many interesting facts are already given, and in most localities

" The veil of years is lifted from the scenes of long ago, When wild beasts gathered menacing and the red man met his foe; Ere forest-aisles re-echoed to the ' tread of pioneers,'- A race of sturdy yeomen where one and all were peers; When curled the silv'ry waves before the light and swift canoe, And the Indian's children sported in the waters deep and blue; When the red deer roamed in freedom the hills and woods among, And o'er the lakes and valleys the wolf's fierce outcry rung."

To the following-named persons we are indebted for much valuable assistance in gathering the history of this township: Joseph C. Wendell, Elias Doty, Caleb Everts, William G. Miller (town clerk), Mrs. B. C. Hicks, Phineas Bates, George Garner, Peter W. Sutton, and others.

264

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

GEORGE GARNER,

son of Thomas and Ann Garner, was born in the town of Hardiston, Sussex county, New Jersey, February 12, 1808, and is consequently now in the seven- tieth year of his age. When a lad his parents removed to Paterson, New Jersey (now in Passaic county), and in September, 1825, when he was in his eighteenth year, he went with them to the town of Pultney, Steuben county, New York. His father emigrated to Michigan in 1833, and in 1836 he followed him, and settled on the farm he now occupies, on section 24, Rose township. His father had located in White Lake township, and died there in 1838.

George Garner was married March 19, 1829, to Margaret Speelman, a native of the town of Benton, Ontario (now Yates) county, New York, where she was born December 5, 1806. Her mother's father, John Mittower, settled near Ge- neva, New York, on the west side of Seneca lake, in 1800. He was from the State of Maryland, probably Frederick county. Her father's father, John Speel- man, was also an early settler of the township of Benton, which was Mr. Mit- tower's home.

Mr. and Mrs. Garner are the parents of eight children, their births occurring as follows :

LEVI S., born April 2, 1830; died May 17, 1862. Was a graduate of the Cincinnati Eclectic medical college, and at the opening of the war entered the army as surgeon of the Fifteenth Regiment of Michigan Volunteer Infantry. Died in the service.

ANN MARIA, born March 12, 1832; now living with her parents.

ELIZABETH, born February 19, 1834; died September 17, 1864.

NANCY, born July 20, 1836; now the wife of Peter Carr, of Rose township, Oakland County, Michigan.

These four were all born before the family left the State of New York. MARY, born October 17, 1839 ; died June 27, 1864.

DAVID M., born December 30, 1841 ; now living on a part of the old farm. Is a graduate of the high school at Corunna, Shiawassee county, Michigan ; owing to a serious affection of the eyes, he was obliged to relinquish a course he was intending to take in the university.

GEORGE, born January 24, 1844; died in infancy.

FRANCIS S., born April 4, 1846; died January 31, 1857.

In the month of May, 1836, Mr. Garner came to Michigan, and purchased four hundred acres of government land, locating three eighty-acre lots on section 24, and the other two on section 2, town + north, range 7 east. He next erected a log house, eighteen by thirty feet, on section 24. It stood just north of David Garner's present residence, and was among the earliest houses built in the town- ship; was a very substantial structure, the logs being hewed smooth, or "faced," on the inside. After building his house, Mr. Garner went back to New York after his family, and brought them to their new home in the then forest wilds of Michigan the same fall, moving into their log house some time in October, 1836. The house was without either upper or lower floor, and was not exceedingly com- fortable. Mrs. Garner had brought a quantity of factory cloth with her, and with it made partitions in the house by hanging it across from wall to wall. Be- side the care which necessarily became her portion of pioneer life, she had addi- tional work in attending to her infant daughter Nancy, then but two months old. Many families, who came in during the summer, lived in their wagons until they could erect suitable shelters for the approaching winter.

The frame house in which Mr. Garner now lives was erected in the summer of 1847, and was one of the first frame houses built in the township.

When he came to Michigan the first time (May, 1836), Mr. Garner started on horseback, but, on arriving at Buffalo, changed his mind as to the mode of travel he should pursue, and, taking a steamer, came through to Detroit by water. Before returning for his family he sold his horse. When he came with the family, they proceeded as far as Buffalo by team, and from there they engaged passage to Detroit by way of the lake. On arriving near Dunkirk, however, their boat sprung a leak, and was forced to put in to the dock. She had some six hun- dred passengers aboard. They transferred their baggage to the steamer " William Penn," and after lying about a week at Dunkirk, waiting for the boat to move out, they concluded to leave their goods on board and come on by team. Accord- ingly they started, and drove as far as Huron, Ohio, a distance of a hundred miles or more. On arriving at the latter place, they discovered the " William Penn" making in towards the dock, and consequently waited for her, and on her arrival drove aboard, and were landed in Detroit the next morning at sunrise. The re- mainder of the distance they traversed with their team, and reached their location in what is now Rose township at the end of a three weeks' trip from New York,

tired, and rejoicing that they at last had reached a haven, even though in a comparative wilderness.

In politics, Mr. Garner was originally a Whig, and has been a Republican since the organization of the party. He and his wife are both members of the First Presbyterian church of White Lake, with which body they united when they first came to Michigan. Mr. Garner became a member of the Presbyterian church at his old home in Pultney, in 1830, and his wife joined the same denomination at Benton, Ontario county, New York, in 1826. No liquor nor tobacco has ever been used in the family, every member of it being strictly temperate, as were Mr. Garner's parents before him, and also every member of his father's family. He has reached the age of nearly seventy years, and though his hands are hardened with the toil of threescore years, and his experience has been greatly varied, the marks of care seem no deeper on his brow, and his countenance wears yet the cheerful look of his younger days.

Mrs. Garner is a true Christian lady, and in her sphere has made herself most useful, and gained many lasting friends. Her voice and hand have always been ready to comfort and soothe the weary patient on the sick-bed, and her old neigh- bors, near and far, remember with gratitude the services performed by her in the days reaching back ward for a period of forty-one years.

This happy couple, now in their old age, are reaping the just reward of a life spent in seeking to do good to all who lived around them, and the closing scenes of their lives promise to be upon the same plan of calmness and serenity by which their experience has always been characterized.

SOLOMON C. SKIDMORE

was born in the town. of Rose, Wayne county, New York, May 19, 1817, and is therefore now in his sixty-first year." His father, John Skidmore, was a native of Saratoga county, New York, where he was born December 6, 1783, and in 1810 was married to Sally Bishop, who was born June 7, 1789. Mr. and Mrs. Skidmore, Sr., were the parents of nine children,-five sons and four daughters, -and these settled, six in Michigan, two in Kansas, and one in Illinois.

Solomon C. Skidmore was married on the 2d day of July, 1845, to Emily Lamb, in the town of Washington, Macomb county, Michigan. Her parents, Otis Lamb and Theodosia Wales, were born in the State of Massachusetts; the former October 16, 1790, and the latter March 26, 1792. They were married August 3, 1814, and became the parents of eight children,-four sons and four daughters, -all of whom settled in Michigan.

In 1848, S. C. Skidmore and his wife removed to the farm where Mr. Skidmore now resides, section 29, Rose township. Mrs. Skidmore became the mother of five children, and on the 22d of December, 1858, was called from earth by the " reaper whose name is 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 79

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