History of Oakland County, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories, Part 8

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 8

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" A circumstance peculiar to that country is exhibited in many of the marshes, by their being thinly covered with a sward of grass, by walking on which evinces the existence of water, or a very thin mud, immediately under their covering, which sinks from six to eighteen inches under the pressure of the foot at every step, and at the same time rises before and behind the person passing over it. The margins of many of the lakes and streams are in a similar situation, and in many places are literally afloat. On approaching the eastern part of the Military lands, towards the private claims on the straits and lake, the country does not contain so many swamps and lakes, but the extreme sterility and barrenness of the soil continue the same.

" Taking the country altogether, so far as has been explored, and to all appear- ances, together with information received concerning the balance, is so bad there would not be more than one acre out of a hundred, if there would be one out of a thousand, that would in any case admit of cultivation."*

The effect of this report upon Congress was, that they passed an act on the 29th of April, 1816, repealing so much of the law of 1812 as related to Michi- gan, and providing for locating an additional one million five hundred thousand acres in Illinois, and five hundred thousand in the Territory of Missouri, in lieu of the two million acres located in Michigan.

It is somewhat difficult to understand attthis day how such a report could have been honestly made. It proved a serious drawback upon the country, which was very naturally considered as of little value for agricultural purposes, if not worth- less altogether. But during the years 1817 and 1818, a few venturesome pioneers braved the dangers of the forest and morass, and demonstrated the report of the surveyors to be egregiously at variance with the facts.

The visit of Major Oliver Williams and his companions in the fall of 1818 entirely changed the current of popular opinion in and around Detroit with regard to the natural resources and condition of the country, for it proved beyond a ques- tion that there was a beautiful and fertile country in the interior, when once the immigrant had penetrated through the low and marshy belt surrounding Detroit.

EARLY ROADS.

One of the greatest drawbacks to the settlement of the country was the want of roads. The Indian trail from Detroit to Saginaw was the nearest approach to a road leading towards the region now comprising the county of Oakland, and this was nearly impassable during the greater part of the year, and even in the dryest season was only practicable for footmen and ponies.

A military road was begun about 1817 or 1818, starting from Detroit and following the Saginaw trail; and Colonel Leavenworth, then in command of the post, had worked it about three miles previous to 1819, besides corduroying several additional miles.

An act to establish a road on this route was passed December 7, 1818, and the following proclamation by Governor Cass, completing the legislation relative to the road, best explains itself :

" BY LEWIS CASS, GOVERNOR IN AND OVER THE TERRITORY OF MICHIGAN:

" A PROCLAMATION.

" Whereas, by virtue of the provisions of an act of this Territory, passed the 7th day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, entitled ' An Act to establish a certain road,' the governor was em- powered to lay out and make a public highway and road mentioned therein, and to appoint three commissioners for carrying the said act into effect; and whereas, John Hunt, Ezra Baldwin, and Levi Cook, Esquires, commissioners as aforesaid, did, on the 13th day of December, instant, transmit to me their report upon the subject of the said road ;

" Now, therefore, By virtue of the said act, and in conformity with the said report, I do lay out the following as a public road or highway, namely : com- mencing at the centre of the military square in Woodward avenue, in the city of Detroit, and running thence along said avenue to Witherell street; and thence with Witherell street to the commencement of the space of one hundred feet between lots numbered 56 and 57, in Fletcher's plan of the survey of the tract of land granted by the act of Congress passed April 21, 1806, and entitled ' An Act to provide for the adjustment of the titles of land in the town

of Detroit and Territory of Michigan, and for other purposes ;' thence along the said space of one hundred feet, and with the course thereof, through the said tract ; thence westwardly on the road which was opened and cut by the troops of the United States to the termination thereof; thence westwardly to a large oak- tree standing on the right of the Saginaw trail, so called, and within a short distance of the same, the said tree being marked with the letter H; thence west- wardly, in a direct line as surveyed and marked by Horatio Ball, to the main street in the village of Pontiac, and thence along said street to its termination ; and the line surveyed as aforesaid is to be the centre of the road.

" In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the said Territory to be here- unto affixed. Given under my hand at Detroit, this fifteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and nineteen.

" LEWIS CASS.

" By the Governor : " WILLIAM WOODBRIDGE, " Secretary of Michigan Territory."

This road, originally commenced by Colonel Leavenworth, was extended from time to time, under various acts of legislation, by the Territorial government until it reached a point some six miles beyond the present city of Flint, about 1834. It was cut out of the width of one hundred feet through its whole course, and graded to a width of eighty feet. Subsequent to the admission of Michigan as a State of the Union, it has been worked by the various counties through which it passes, until it has become the splendid turnpike of the present day. At one period in its history it was transformed into a plank-road, between Detroit and Pontiac, under the control of a chartered corporation ; and where it had become impassable by wear and tear it was solidly graded with gravel, and is now one of the finest and smoothest roads in the country. The portion of the road from Pontiac to Saginaw was surveyed and located by George W. Dole, in 1826.

By an act approved June 23, 1828, a road was ordered laid out from the northeast corner of Oakland County, running south along the county line until it intersected the Detroit and Pontiac turnpike. Under the same act a road, com- mencing at the bridge over the Clinton river in Pontiac, and running along the north side of Pine lake, the east side of Orchard lake, and the north side of Walled lake, and thence to Ann Arbor, was also ordered.

By an act of the council, approved March 4, 1831, a road was ordered laid from Pontiac running southwest to a point on the road from Monroe to Ypsilanti. By an act of June 26, 1832, a road was ordered running from section No. 18, in Southfield township, to Detroit.

April 4, 1833, a road was authorized from Pontiac to Livingston county. April 20, same year, a road from Bloomfield running west to intersect the road from Pontiac to Monroe; and by the same act a road from Bloomfield through Auburn to Flint. Most if not all of these roads have since been handsomely graded and graveled, and made toll-turnpikes.

There seems to have been abundance of legislation upon the subject of roads." It appears that the act of 1819, ordering the Detroit and Pontiac turnpike, was not fully carried out, for we find that in June, 1822, another act was passed by the legislative council authorizing the governor to appoint three commissioners " to lay out and establish" a road from Detroit via Pontiac to Saginaw, or the Saginaw river. Again, an act approved August 5, 1824, incorporating the. " Pontiac and Paint Creek Turnpike Company," with the following-named incor- porators : John R. Williams, Daniel Le Roy, Peter I. Desnoyers, William Thompson, Solomon Sibley, Amasa Bagley, James McCloskey, David Sauard, Benjamin Woodworth, Jonathan Kearsley, Johnson Niles, David C. Mckinstry, Thomas Palmer, Cyrus Chipman, and Olmstead Chamberlain. This turnpike was to extend from a point three miles from the Detroit river, on the present road, by the most practicable route via Royal Oak to the court-house in Pontiac, with a branch from Royal Oak to a point on Paint creek to be fixed by the com- missioners. The stock of this corporation was fixed by the act at eight hun- dred shares of twenty-five dollars each. James McCloskey, Daniel Le Roy, and Johnson Niles were appointed commissioners to receive subscriptions. This was to be a toll-road, with two gates,-one near Detroit and the other within a half- mile of where the Paint creek branch commenced.

The contrast between the smooth turnpike-roads of the present day, upon which an ordinary roadster can easily make eight miles per hour, and the bridle-paths and subsequent " corduroys," where the speed was seldom more than one or two miles per hour, is indeed wonderful. The first twelve miles from Detroit on the Saginaw trail was nearly an impenetrable swamp, covered with heavy timber, and so level that the water stood upon the surface a greater part of the year. Many a venturesome pioneer, who had perhaps found his way from New York or New England, has had the last atom of faith in the new country taken from him in this indescribable morass.

Tuttle's " History of Michigan."

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

CHAPTER VIII.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND ENTRIES OF LANDS-PROCEEDINGS OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AND BOARD OF SUPERVISORS-COURT-HOUSES AND JAILS- COUNTY ASYLUM-EASTERN ASYLUM FOR THE INSANE-CANALS AND RAIL- WAYS-GROWTH AND PROSPERITY-CENSUS-LANDS-AGRICULTURAL- STOCK-MANUFACTURES-BANKS-PIONEER SOCIETY.

ABOUT 1816 adventurers and United States surveyors began to venture be- yond the great swampy belt that encircled Detroit and shut from observation the interior of the Territory of Michigan, which was then popularly believed to be a vast region of sandy ridges and impenetrable swamps and morasses. The earli- est explorers came in by way of Mount Clemens and the Clinton river, then called the " Huron of St. Clair." Among the surveyors who had seen the country was Colonel Wampler, who protested to Captain Henry Parke, in 1821, that he never signed the unfavorable report made by the United States surveyors about 1816.

EARLY PURCHASES AND SETTLEMENTS OF THE COUNTY.

The first settlement within the bounds of Oakland County was made on the 17th day of March, 1817, in the township now known as Avon, by James Gra- ham, his son Alexander, Christopher Hartsough, and John Hersey. The next succeeding settlements were made at Pontiac, by the Pontiac company, under the direction and supervision of Colonel Stephen Mack, the company's agent, late in the fall of 1818. Accompanying the colonel were Orison Allen, William Lester, and Major J. J. Todd, with their families. The same autumn and winter settlements were commenced at Birmingham, Royal Oak, and other places above the Detroit and Saginaw trail ; and in March, 1819, Major Oliver Williams and his brother-in-law, Alpheus Williams, settled in Waterford township. Captain Archibald Phillips also settled in Waterford very early. Settlements were com- menced in Troy township at an early date. Among the first to enter land were Messrs. Castle, Hunter, Hamilton, and Fairbanks, in February, 1819. Lands were entered in what is now Oakland township, in March, 1819, by Benjamin Woodworth and William Russell.

In what is now Farmington township, lands were purchased in October, 1822, by Eastman Colby, and in January following Arthur Powell purchased.

The first purchase of land in West Bloomfield was made by James Herring- ton, in May, 1823.

Land was first purchased in Independence township in October, 1823, by Alpheus Williams.

The first entry of land in Bloomfield was made January 28, 1819, by Benja- min H. Pierce. On the 16th of March following lands were entered by Peter Desnoyer, and by Colonel David Stanard in July succeeding.

In what is now Southfield the first entry was made by John Wetmore, in May, 1821.

Colonel Stanard made the first entry of lands under the " ten-shilling act," in the county.

The first entries in Orion township were made by Judah Church and John Wetmore, in October, 1819. These were among the earliest purchases and settlements in the county .*

The townships of Groveland and Brandon were the latest settled,-both in 1835. The first mills were put in operation at Rochester and Pontiac, 1818-19.

THE FISCAL MANAGERS OF THE COUNTY.

In the year 1817 (November 25), the governor and judges of the Territory of Michigan provided for the management of the fiscal concerns of the organized coun- ties of the Territory, courts of general quarter-sessions of the peace, composed of the justices of the county courts and justices of the peace in the respective counties, and vested these courts with full power to levy taxes for the needs of the conduct of public affairs of the county, and provided for the appointment of assessors and county treasurers by the governor. On the 30th of May, 1818, these courts were abolished, and their powers vested in three commissioners, to be appointed in each of the organized counties of the Territory by the governor, the powers of the assessors vested in the sheriff, and the limit of taxation fixed at one-quarter of one per cent. The clerks of the county courts were made the clerks of the com- missioners. The first commissioners appointed for Oakland County were Ziba Swan, Enoch Hotchkiss, and Jonathan Perrin, who held the appointment until October, 1825, when their terms expired by legislative enactment, and new com- missioners were elected.

The second board was composed of Stephen Reeves, William Burbank, and Arthur Power, who were elected for a term of three years, but who were super-

seded in 1827 by the board of supervisors, who were vested with the powers of the commissioners in the management of the fiscal concerns of the county.

The board of county commissioners levied taxes, built a court-house and jail, partially completing the same, pledged the faith of the county on indebtedness maturing beyond their lease of power, laid out roads, granted licenses, and per- formed, for the space of six years, all the functions pertaining to their office; and yet there is no record in existence of any business done by them, so far as we have been able to discover, and has not been for years, with the single exception of a stray sheet of foolscap which is now doing duty as a wrapper for the files in the estate of Joseph Crippen, deceased, in the office of the judge of probate, which we accidentally found while examining the records of that court. That sheet con- tains the record of the last meeting of the first board, and the following business was done:

October 3, 1825 .- Present, Enoch Hotchkiss and Ziba Swan, commissioners. Accounts allowed : Sidney Dole, clerk, forty-seven dollars and fifty cents; one wolf's scalp, four dollars; one pauper bill, five dollars ; three commissioners' bills for services, Jonathan Perrin's included, fifteen dollars; under-sheriff, three dol- lars; and a reference to one previously allowed G. Taylor and family, for pauper relief, fifty-four dollars.

The commissioners levied a tax of two thousand and seventy dollars and twenty- seven cents, in the year 1825, on an assessment made by William Morris, sheriff, and S. V. R. Trowbridge, the same including seventy-eight thousand nine hun- dred acres assessed, all of which except two thousand acres lay within the county limits proper. In 1826 the tax-levy amounted to eighteen hundred and forty- one dollars and seventy-six cents. 1

THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS.

On the 30th day of March, 1827, an act of the legislative council of the Ter- ritory was approved, providing for the election in each township of a supervisor and other township officers ; and on the same day another act of the council was approved, providing for the meeting of the supervisors of the several townships of a county at the county-seat annually, on the third Mondays of January, April, July, and October, and at such other times as they should find convenient, not exceeding eight days in any one year, and perform as a county board the duties theretofore imposed on the county commissioners. They were empowered to ap- point their own clerk, and fix his compensation for such time as they saw fit. On the 12th day of April following an act was approved formally abolishing the board of county commissioners, and vesting the powers thereof in the board of supervisors.

THE FIRST MEETING

of the board of supervisors of Oakland County was begun and held in Pontiac, at the court-house, on the third Monday and Tuesday in July, 1827 ; present, Roger Sprague, from Oakland township, S. V. R. Trowbridge from Troy, Lemuel Castle from Bloomfield, Amos Mead, Farmington, and Jacob N. Voorheis from Pontiac. Roger Sprague was chosen chairman, and Joseph Morrison clerk of the board. The following bills were allowed at the first day's session : Thomas J. Drake as prosecuting attorney, twenty-five dollars; Arthur Power, ten dollars for services as county commissioner for 1826. Hiram Willmarth, twelve dollars and fifty cents ; Solomon Walker, four dollars and fifty cents ; and Wareham Lee, three dollars and fifty cents, for services in laying out a road from Farmington to Orchard lake. E. S. Fish, six dollars and thirty-three cents for washing clothing for Imri Fish, a lunatic in the county jail. William Morris, sheriff, six dollars for summoning jury, and Schuyler Hodges, six dollars and fifty cents for distri- buting road warrants and attending court. On the second day a resolution was adopted offering a bounty of five dollars to any white person who should kill a wolf or panther six months old, and two dollars and fifty cents each for whelps. The first record of bounties paid by this board was to Chauncey Parker, of four dollars for a wolf killed April 7, 1827, the same having been killed previous to the limit assigned in the bounty resolution, thirty days before its passage, and the bounty being paid under a previous resolution of the county commissioners. The first bounty paid under the supervisors' resolution was to Enos Walker, for a wolf killed May 20, 1827. He also received four dollars for one wolf killed earlier. Bills for road-viewing, twenty-one dollars ; Sheriff Morris, for boarding Imri Fish, thirty-eight dollars; Amos Mead, four dollars, and Joseph Elding, five dollars, for wolf-bounties, were allowed, and H. Willmarth's bill allowed on the first day reconsidered, and cut down two dollars, and ten dollars of the allow- ance to Drake cut off, the account being withdrawn by Supervisor Sprague. Su- pervisor Mead was ordered to procure blanks for assessment rolls, and a book for a supervisor's record. Elijah S. Fish was directed to furnish materials for fur- nishing a room in the southeast corner of the second story of the jail, and finish the same by " lathing and plastering the walls, plowing and grooving the lower floor, and laying the same in a workmanlike manner, grate the windows with iron, and

# For particulars relating to early settlements, see histories of townships and villages.

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

glaze them, and make a door cheap and substantial ;" for which service and ma- terials Fish was to render a just and true account, and was to receive on account therefor a claim the county held against Sheldon M. Perry, for about forty dollars. The clerk was ordered to publish a notice in the two papers published in the Territory (at Detroit),-a notice calling on all holders of county orders issued by the commissioners of Oakland County to present the same at the October meet- ing of the board, for exchange for others bearing legal interest, and payable at the county treasury.

At the October meeting, held on the 15th of that month, at the same place and with the same presence, a per diem of one dollar was fixed as the full com- pensation for the services of all township officers not otherwise provided for. The contingent expenses of the townships were estimated as follows : Farmington, one hundred and thirty-six dollars ; Troy, seventy-two dollars and fifty cents ; Pontiac, one hundred and forty-three dollars; Oakland, eighty-three dollars and seventy- five cents ; Bloomfield, ninety-nine dollars; which amounts were ordered to be levied on the assessments returned in the several townships, and in addition thereto, one-half of one per cent. was levied thereon for county purposes. The amount raised for county purposes was nineteen hundred and forty dollars and sixty-nine cents, the assessment being therefore about three hundred and eighty- eight thousand one hundred and thirty-eight dollars in the county, the assess- ments by townships being as follows: Pontiac, one hundred and twenty-three thousand three hundred and twenty-eight dollars; Bloomfield, seventy-one thou- sand two hundred and fifty-four dollars; Troy, sixty-eight thousand six hundred and eighty dollars ; Oakland, seventy-seven thousand four hundred and sixty-six dollars ; Farmington, forty-seven thousand four hundred and ten dollars. The taxes for 1827 were all collected excepting two hundred and eleven dollars and eighty-nine cents on non-resident lands, and six dollars delinquent personal tax. The Bloomfield lands were equalized with regard to those of the balance of the county, by reducing them from a dollar and fifty cents to a dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. Supervisor Mead's bill for blanks and stationery, nine dollars and fifty cents, and fourteen dollars for road-work, were allowed. E. S. Fish's bill for work on court-house, thirty-three dollars and twenty-four cents, was allowed, and the sheriff was allowed twenty-eight dollars and sixty-two cents for boarding Imri Fish, and the board declared they would allow no more bills for his keeping; but they forgot their declaration by the time the next meeting in January came around, and allowed twenty-seven dollars and fifty cents more for the same purpose, and continued to make such appropriations for some time. Elias Comstock secured an appropriation, for services as clerk of the commissioners, of twenty-nine dollars, and as clerk of the courts, of fourteen dollars. Drake received a five-dollar fee for prosecuting some unfortunate, and eighty dollars were appropriated for finishing two rooms in lower story of jail, and one in upper story in southeast corner, and Schuyler Hodges put in charge of the work. The supervisors allowed themselves thirty-four dollars, Morrison, their clerk, eight dollars eighty-seven and a half cents, and one wolf-bounty, and adjourned.

At the January meeting, 1828, begun on the 21st of the month, the full board was present. Seventeen wolf-bounties were allowed. Hodges' bill, one hundred and seven dollars and seventy-six cents, for work on jail, was also allowed, and a bill of eight dollars and sixty-eight cents for hinges and straps, and a dollar and twenty- five cents for iron. C. C. Hascall, a justice of the peace of Pontiac, was allowed three dollars and sixty-eight and three-quarter cents for costs assessed against Queeche, an Indian, who was charged with theft and convicted (of course), but had no " wampum" wherewith to discharge his fine. Seventy-eight dollars were allowed for court expenses, eighteen dollars and a half for furniture for clerk's office, and thirty-three dollars and fifty cents for supervisors' services on revenue account. The district attorney was directed to look after the fines and forfeitures uncollected in the courts and before the justices, and collect the same if possible.

At the April meeting, 1828, there was the same presence. The clerk was re- appointed, and his compensation fixed at a dollar and fifty cents per day, when actually employed. Ten wolf-bounties were allowed, and Fish was still a county charge. The county treasurer was allowed three per cent. on receipts and dis- bursements, and Drake compromised a suit he had previously brought against the board for non-allowance of a claim he had filed against the county.

At the October meeting, 1828, the clerk of the courts was allowed thirty-one dollars and fifty cents for services in the " mildam" suits.

At the March meeting, 1829, the prosecuting attorney was advised to use sound discretion in the prosecution of the mill-dam suits, and to discontinue the same if, in his opinion, the public interest required such disposition. A window in the county jail was ordered grated with iron, and another one with timber, and E. I. Fish put in charge of the work. His bid for the same amounted to fifty-nine dollars and ninety-three cents, which was allowed the next October. The jailer was put in search of stray plank and timber belonging to the county, and when found to take care of it.

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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 8

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