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 81
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second-advent journal, entitled The Midnight Cry. His connection with the Miller sect brought him both financial and mental disaster, from which he never recovered. After some years he returned from New York to Southfield, and thence, after a time, he removed to the State of Ohio, where he died a few years since.
Elisha Hunter settled in the township in 1824, and with him came his sons Daniel and Rufus, and his son-in-law, William Hall. On their first arrival in Michigan, five years before, they had settled where the village of Birmingham now is. In Southfield Mr. Hunter settled on one hundred and sixty acres in the southwest quarter of section 3, now the farm of J. H. Johnson. Mr. Hall took the west half of the northeast quarter of section 10. Rufus, the youngest of Elisha Hunter's sons, is now living in Birmingham. He recollects that in the first year of their settlement in Southfield they planted three-fourths of an acre of Ohio corn, the product of which was sixty bushels ; which shows plainly the great fertility of the virgin soil. He also recollects that they procured hay from Wilkes Durkee's to feed their stock, but that the cattle left the hay, seeming to greatly prefer the coarse, dry, Indian grass which they found on the borders of the stream which passed through their farm.
Moses Rodgers came in 1824, and settled on the Rouge, in the southwest quarter of section 32. Mr. Benjamin Fuller recollects that while making a rather extended exploration down the stream, of a Sunday in the summer of 1825, he came suddenly upon the cabin of Mr. Rodgers, and was surprised to find a habi- tation where he had supposed was only an unbroken wilderness.
In 1825, Elijah Bullock came in. He was by trade a blacksmith, but having come to Michigan with no intention of following any other calling than that of agriculture, and having with him four sons, as well as a son-in-law,-George Gage,-he purchased two hundred and forty acres of fine land, namely, the west half of the northeast quarter of section 6, and the entire northwest quarter of the same section ; this including all the land lying on the west side of the main street in the present village of Franklin as far south as the southern line of the ceme- tery, and from thence westward to the town-line of Farmington.
Denison Smith came in 1825, and purchased the west half of the southwest quarter of section 2; and in the same year came Abraham Crawford, Benjamin Fuller, Jr., and 'Niah Dodd. Mr. Fuller is the only survivor of all those old settlers, and lives now a short distance north and west of Southfield Centre, on the same tract-though not on the same spot-where he then settled, the north- east quarter of section 20. He emigrated from Rutland county, Vermont. Crawford located on the northwest quarter of section 27, the premises now owned by W. Beatty. As regards Dodd (whose correct Christian name we have been wholly unable to ascertain, which may have been Zephaniah, though the contraction alone was universally used in speaking of him),-'Niah Dodd, as he was called, entered on the southeast quarter of section 20, and was the first comer upon the place now Southfield Centre. He was less farmer than hunter, fisherman, and trapper, and he built his cabin by the stream, in a location convenient for the ex- ercise of his favorite vocation. The creek at that time swarmed with fish. Mr. Benjamin Fuller recollects how, in crossing it on a log, on the occasion of his first visit to 'Niah's cabin, he was surprised at their numbers and tameness, and how he killed a large and beautiful pike without spear or fishing-apparatus of any kind, by the mere help of a stick. The purpose of his visit to the cabin at that time
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
was to sharpen his axe on Dodd's grindstone, which appears to have been nearly or quite the first utensil of the kind in the township; though how it happened that a fisherman, whose calling is usually regarded as a thriftless one at best, should have been in advance of the enterprising pioneer farmers in the ownership of so indispensable an implement, is hard to explain. A few years afterwards Mr. Dodd sold his land and " betterments" to Hiram Sherman.
Daniel Thorn came from Newburg, New York, in 1825, and purchased the east half of the northwest quarter of section 5, the present farm of T. Midgely. He did not bring his family, however, until 1830.
Marvin Henry settled in 1825, on the southwest quarter of section 22. He afterwards sold to Asa Parker, and moved to Indiana.
Simeon Botsford came late in the autumn of 1825, and moved into the log house of Benjamin Fuller, Jr., while the latter had gone east to bring on his father's family. Afterwards he (Botsford) settled on section 19.
Ebenezer Wilson and his father, old Major Wilson, came in 1825, and settled on the town-line, in section 4. Afterwards, on their removal, Ebenezer sold his land to John Daniels, and the major disposed of his to Eli Curtis. Major Wil- son's father and his uncle, Samuel Wilson, were officers in the army during the Revolutionary war.
SETTLEMENTS AFTER 1825.
Benjamin Fuller, Sr., came with his family in the spring of 1826, and settled on section 20, a little west and north of where Southfield Centre now is. He brought with him the first pair of horses that were owned in Southfield. Joseph Dodd, 1826, on the northwest quarter of section 22. Orville Goss, same year, set- tled on the town-line, in the northwest quarter of section 18. He also purchased lands in section 22, which he afterwards sold to John Thomas. Joseph Blind- bury and James Gunning also came in that year, and settled on section 19. - Chris- topher Barnhart settled in 1826, on the northeast quarter of section 23. He afterwards sold to Edward Stephens, and removed to the " Bean creek country" with William Lee and Marvin Henry.
In the fall of that year, Amaziah Stoughton, Sr., came with his sons, William (a bachelor, who was virtually the head of the family), Amaziah, Jr., and Charles, then a boy, and settled on the southwest quarter of section 6, now the farm of W. Barnum. These were the father and brothers of Dillucena Stoughton, the first comer in that vicinity. Another brother of his, James Stoughton, settled first in Bloomfield, but afterwards came to Southfield.
John Fall came in 1826, with his large family, and settled where Ezekiel Hutton now is, on the northwest quarter of section 27. Isaac Heth came from Vermont in 1827, and located upon the southeast quarter of section 6, where he settled with his family. Dorus Morton, Henry S. Smith, and Richard Bignall came in the fall of 1827, and settled at Franklin, where Morton purchased four acres from Dillucena Stoughton. Asa Parker came in that year, and purchased lands of Mar- vin Henry, in the southwest quarter of section 22. Jonathan Worthing also came in 1827, and entered his lands in the northwest and northeast quarters of section 7, but did not settle on them until a considerable time later.
Mason I. James came from Avon in 1828, and purchased on the southeast quarter of section 22. He was a justice of the peace by appointment from Gov- ernor Cass, and a prominent citizen. Near him Nathaniel Armstrong and Mr. Patmore settled at the same time.
John Trowbridge came in the year 1828, and purchased the western half of the northwest quarter of section 28. Silas White came in that year, and settled in the northwest quarter of section 14. This, however, was not his first settle- ment in Michigan ; he had previously established himself for a few years in Bloomfield. Nathaniel Green settled in 1829, on the northwest quarter of sec- tion 20. George W. Cook, 1829, settled on the western half of the southwest quarter of section 22, land which he afterwards sold to John Thomas. Henry Frink, in the same year, built upon the southeast quarter of section 3, a tract which had been entered by General Hugh Brady, U. S. A.
Archibald H. Green, a blacksmith, came in 1829, and settled on section 20. He is now a resident of the city of Pontiac. A part of the village of Southfield Centre is located on his original tract. Henry S. Babcock settled in 1829, on the northwest quarter of section 28. Hiram and Oliver Sherman, from Oneida county, New York, came in the year 1829. Oliver, a bachelor, purchased on section 23, but afterwards exchanged for land in the northeast quarter of 21. Hiram bought from 'Niah Dodd his lands at Southfield Centre, but after one or two years sold out to Moses Peck, and returned to New York State.
Winthrop Worthing came in 1829, and in the following year purchased the eighty-acre tract of Dillucena Stoughton, at Franklin, except the four acres which Stoughton had sold to Dorus Morton, and another small lot sold to H. S. Smith.
James Hall settled in 1829, on the tract which is now owned by Samuel Bell, in the northeast quarter of section 10. He was the father of four sons and four daughters, and was an industrious man, but afterwards made a wreck of his
property in some injudicious contracts which he made to do certain work at the mill and foundry in Birmingham. William Connery also came in 1829, and settled in the southwest corner of section 14. Mr. Connery was the father of the Covenanters' church in Southfield.
In September, 1830, Heman A. Castle came in, from Vermont, and took land on section 12. Levi Trowbridge and Hubbard Trowbridge settled in that year, on section 29. Caleb Hodge, 1830, came from West Bloomfield, and purchased on the northeast quarter of section 23, where he settled, and also bought a tract in the southeast quarter of section 14, now the farm of Mr. Erwin. With him also came his son, Ezra Hodge, and his son-in-law, John Solis.
Melvin Drake and his brother Walter came in 1830, and together took the southeast quarter of section 2, but afterwards Melvin exchanged his eighty acres with Isaac Heth for forty acres of the land entered by Heth, in the southeast quarter of section 6.
John Waters came in from Oneida county, New York, in the same year. He was part blacksmith, but more sailor, having served in the United States navy for the seven years preceding 1828, during which term of service the aggregate of his time on shore was less than twenty-four hours. He purchased from Joseph Dodd the west half of the northwest quarter of section 22.
Samuel D. Beekman came in 1830, and purchased in the northwest quarter of section 12. Morris Jenks came prior to 1830, and settled on the southwest quarter of section 28. His first settlement on arriving in Michigan had been made in Bloomfield.
George Beardslee, Jonathan Wood, Lorenzo A. Warren, Joshua Davis, Harvey Lee, David Johnson, John W. Turner, Asa Fuller, Thaddeus Griswold, John W. Brewster, George P. Tyson, Clement P. Rust, Samuel Babcock, Pitts Phillips, Michael Beach, James Shanklin, William Delling and Elijah Delling (brothers), David Brown, John Rodgers, James Gould, William Dutcher, all came in prior to the organization of the township in 1830, and they, with the others mentioned above, comprised nearly all of the list of voters in Southfield at that time.
FIRST BIRTH, MARRIAGE, AND DEATH.
The first white child born in Southfield was a son of George White, in the fall of 1825.
The first marriage was that of Benjamin Fuller, Jr., to Marietta Crawford, daughter of Abraham Crawford, in December, 1828. Not long after came that of Milton Crawford, brother of the first bride, to Miss Eliza Parker. Another of the very early marriages was that of Thaddeus Griswold to Harriet Fuller, daughter of Benjamin Fuller, Sr. ; and still another, that of Myrex Fuller to Miss Ives.
The first death among the settlers in the township was that of Elias Aldrich, a laborer in the employ of Benjamin Fuller, Sr. He died of congestion of the brain, at the house of Mr. Fuller, in August, 1828. He was attended in his sickness by young Dr. Ebenezer Raynale.
FIRST FRAME BUILDINGS, MILLS, ETC.
The first frame house in the township was built on the northeast quarter of section 20, by Benjamin Fuller, Jr., in the summer of 1828. Its dimensions were twenty by twenty-six feet. It is still standing, a little west of Mr. Fuller's residence, and is now occupied by Wilbur White. There was no other frame house built in the central and southern part of the town until 1831, when John Trowbridge erected one on his premises, the northeast quarter of section 28. In the northwest part of the town, however, a frame house was built by H. S. Smith, in 1828, a few months after the completion of Benjamin Fuller's.
The first saw-mill was built in 1829, by Joshua Davis and Michael Beach, in the southeast corner of the northeast quarter of section 3, on the east branch of the Rouge. The first grist-mill, by Ezekiel H. Sabins, in the year 1837, on the main Rouge, at Southfield Centre.
As regards the first tannery, it is not yet known whether precedence should be given to that of Hiram Rust, on section 19, where Jonathan B. Sherman now lives, or to that of - West, on the northeast quarter of section 22. Both were started about 1830, and both were very inconsiderable establishments. West afterwards removed to the southeast quarter of section 8, and started his business on the Cook farm. Still later he removed to Franklin.
FIRST PUBLIC-HOUSE.
The opening of the first public-house in Southfield was in about the year 1829, by Moses Rodgers, in his log building just south of the Rouge, in the south west part of section 32 ; and, as it stood on the line over which the Farmington Territorial road was laid out, he is said to have done a very considerable business for that early day. He was known far and wide as " Uncle Mose Rodgers," and was held in good repute, although very eccentric. It appears that at one time he had been
ISAAC HETH.
BETSEY HETH.
RESIDENCE OF JOHN N. HETH, SOUTHFIELD TP, OAKLAND CO., MICH.
RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM STURMAN, SOUTHFIELD TP., OAKLAND CO, MICH.
MELVIN DRAKE.
MRS. HARRIET DRAKE.
JOHN B. SLY.
MRS. ALMIRA SLY.
RESIDENCE OF MELVIN DRAKE, SOUTHFIELD TP.,
RESIDENCE OF JOHN SLY, BLOOMFIELD TP.,
OAKLAND COUNTY , MICHIGAN ..
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
united with the Methodist congregation, and he had doubtless been enthusiastic in that, as he was in everything in which he engaged. But from being earnest in their support he afterwards reached the other extreme, of great hostility to them ; the circumstances attending the beginning of this change, as related by himself, being something as follows : In the near vicinity of the place where he then lived a camp-meeting of his denomination was appointed and held. One night during its continuance some of the more unruly of the preachers' horses became loose, and made a foray on his property, a very promising field of corn, which before morning they had utterly destroyed. He did not at the time make loud com- plaint, for he had some hope that partial, if not full, remuneration might be given him. But when the meeting closed and the preachers departed, leaving him only the benefit of their prayer that Brother Rodgers might " be blessed in basket and in store," his zeal in behalf of the Methodists declined, and from that day he grew more and more pronounced in his enmity to them, until finally he denounced them in a printed pamphlet. But in this he was once more doomed to disappoint- ment, for the corrections in grammar and orthography which the printer had found it absolutely necessary to make had so changed the composition that the author did not recognize his own work, and despairingly said that it was com- pletely "jumbled" and ruined. Nevertheless, it caused great merriment among the people at the time.
He was always an ardent admirer of the military ; nothing charmed him more than the music of drum and fife, and no " training" would have been thought quite complete without the presence of Uncle Moses Rodgers.
In the days of "wild-cat" banks and of suspension of specie payment, when in lieu of small change " shinplasters," as they were called, were issued even by pri- vate individuals, Uncle Moses was not slow in his solution of the financial prob- lem. He issued his own notes, of various denominations, from sixpence to four shillings, and the following is the tenor of the poetical promise which they bore upon their face :
" This nimble sixpence I will pay In oats, or corn, or in good hay ; When you get a dollar, dun me, And then I'll pay in wild-cat money ;"
and we are not informed that he ever failed to make his promise good.
1
EARLY ROADS.
In this township, as everywhere in the new country, the settlers at first traveled, . as might be said, at random over those routes and trails where there were the least natural obstacles, and marking the tracks as they used them. These were generally inconvenient and circuitous, but such as they were they were used until, and indeed, in many cases, long after, the general declaration of roads on section- lines. The first settlers nearly all came in by way of Royal Oak and Hamilton's (Birmingham) over the Saginaw road, and for a long time afterwards they used this route in their journeyings to and from Detroit. The first road laid out through any part of the township was the Territorial road, usually called the Far- mington road, which, however, only laid for the distance of a mile and a half in Southfield, passing diagonally from the base-line at the quarter-post of section 32 to the quarter bound on the west side of section 31, and thence northwesterly to the Quaker settlement in Farmington. The first road, however, which could in any sense be considered a township road, was one which was laid out on a route which was rather indefinitely described as commencing at Elijah Willet's sign- post, in Bloomfield, and running thence southwestwardly to the river Rouge, at Moses Rodgers' house, which will be understood as traversing the township nearly from its northeastern to its southwestern corner. This was about 1830. The commissioners on the part of Southfield in the laying out were C. P. Rust and George White. By an act of the legislative council, approved June 26, 1832, it was ordered " that a Territorial road shall be laid out and established, running from a point four chains and eighty-seven links east of the quarter-post in the north line of section 18, in the township of Southfield, in the county of Oakland, on the most direct and eligible road to the city of Detroit; and Pitts Phillips, John Trowbridge, and George Beardsley are hereby appointed commissioners to lay out and establish said road." This road was rather an important one. It passed from its starting-point diagonally through the southwest quarter of section 17, and the northeast quarters of sections 18 and 20, to the crossing of the Rouge at South- field Centre; thence east over the present main street of the village; thence south on the section-line to Henry S. Babcock's; thence southeastwardly through the west part of sections 28 and 33 to and across the base-line, a short distance south of which it struck the Detroit and Farmington road. The opening of this road had the effect to change the route of travel between Detroit and the southern and western portions of Southfield ; though the extremely bad condition of the Terri- torial road made it a question whether anything was gained by the change. The opening of local roads on section-lines was gradually accomplished in a few years, commencing about 1832.
SEPARATE TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION.
Until 1830 township 1 north, range 10 east, had been included with Bloomfield, but on the 12th of July in that year it was, by act of legislative council, set off as a separate township, under the name of Ossewa. This name appears to have been considered an objectionable one, and quick work was made in ending its ex- istence, for, seventeen days after its adoption, it was superseded, and, on the 29th of July, the name of the township was changed to Southfield.
At the first annual township-meeting, held at the house of Benjamin Fuller, April 4, 1831, Mason I. James was made moderator, and George White clerk, for the day. William Lee and H. S. Babcock were justices of the peace present. There seems to have been no formal balloting, but it was " resolved that H. S. Babcock be our supervisor for the ensuing year ;" and in similar manner it was resolved that A. H. Green be township clerk ; Benjamin Fuller, Jr., David Brown, and James Hall assessors ; Mason I. James, William Lee, and Morris Jenks commissioners of highways; Ebenezer Raynale director of the poor; Thaddeus Griswold constable and collector; George Gage constable; Abraham Crawford pound-master.
There is no reason for supposing that the meeting passed off otherwise than in a quiet and orderly manner ; yet there was at least one voter-Mr. Eli Curtis- who was evidently displeased with the result. He wrote a poetical (?) satire on the different officers who were elected, and this production he had printed and posted in conspicuous places over the township. One quotation from it will suffice. It was his reference to the newly-elected supervisor, and ran thus :
" Our supervisor we elected According to our wishes ; A better could not be selected To share the loaves and fishes."
And so it ran on through the list. But a resolution passed at the meeting seems to evince such a spirit of economy in public matters as makes it a matter of great doubt whether the supervisor or any other official ever had opportunity to profit by the township " loaves and fishes" to any very great extent. The resolution was as follows : " Resolved, That the township clerk procure three blank books and three quires of paper for the use of the town." There certainly could not have been any very heavy division of percentages on the bills for public stationery.
SUCCESSION OF TOWNSHIP OFFICERS.
The list of supervisors elected in Southfield from the organization to the pres- ent time are as follows : H. S. Babcock, in the years 1832-33-34, and 1835 ; Pitts Phillips, in 1836; Ammos Davis, in 1837 and 1838; Isaac Chapman, in 1839; Peter Van Every, in 1840-41, and 1845 ; William A. Pratt, in 1842 and 1843; George White, in 1844; John Davis, in 1846; Melancthon W. Hicks, in 1847, 1849, and 1850; Lucius Miller, in 1848; Charles V. Babcock, in 1851-53, 1855, 1857-58, 1861-66, 1869, 1871, and 1874; Adam D, Sulli- van, in 1854 and 1856; Harrison D. Hyde, in 1859 ; Roderick L. Bryan, in 1860; Darwin O. White, in 1867-68, and 1870; James W. Young, in 1872 ; William A. Bristol, in 1873 ; William Erity, in 1875-77.
The persons elected to the office of township clerk have been : Archibald H. Green, in 1832-34; Thaddeus Griswold, in 1835-38, and 1849 ; Ezekiel H. Sabin, in 1839; Clement P. Rust, in 1841-43, 1845, 1848, 1856-57, and 1863 ; Charles L. Palmer, in 1847 and 1849; Melancthon W. Hicks, in 1846 ; Isaac A. Chapman, in 1850-54; Henry Simmons, in 1844 and 1855 ; James W. Young, in 1858-60, 1865-68, 1870-71 ; Darwin O. White, in 1861-62 ; Franklin Comstock, in 1864; Gardner M. Wood, in 1869 ; Joseph E. Delezenne, in 1872 and 1874 ; Lysander M. Dunbar, in 1873; Enos S. Lawrence, in 1875 ; and Edward S. Blakeslee, in 1876 and 1877.
The first election of justices of the peace of which there is a record was in 1838. Prior to that time H. S. Babcock, William Lee, Heman A. Castle, and Mason I. James had, among others, held the office, but we cannot with certainty give the names of the incumbents in that year. The list of those elected then and since then is as follows :
1838, William H. Edwards, John Trowbridge, to fill vacancy ; 1839, George Beardslee, Ezekiel H. Sabin, to fill :vacancy ; 1840, William A. Pratt : 1841, Pitts Phillips ; 1842, H. S. Babcock ; 1843, George Beardslee, Jr., Horace J. Johnson, to fill vacancy ; 1844, William A. Pratt ; 1845, Lucius Miller, Jona- than T. Stephens, to fill vacancy ; 1846, Horace J. Johnson ; 1847, George Beardslee, Jr. ; 1848, Jonathan L. Stephens; 1849, Winthrop Worthing, Lodo- wic Stanton, to fill vacancy ; 1850, John Trowbridge; 1851, Arthur Davis, Lewis W. Adams, to fill vacancy ; 1852, Cornelius Lawrence; 1853, Benjamin D. Worthing, Warren Hunt, to fill vacancy ; 1854, George Beardslee, Jonathan L. Stephens, to fill vacancy ; 1855, Morgan L. Ferris; 1856, Cornelius Lawrence, George B. Congleton, to fill vacancy ; 1857, George B. Congleton ; 1858, George Beardslee, Alfred Foster, to fill vacancy ; 1859, Jason W. Crandall, to full term,
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
and also to fill vacancy ; 1860, George Dolbeer; 1861, Lewis W. Adams; 1862, William Erity; 1863, Jason W. Crandall ; 1864, Cornelius Lawrence, William Van Every, to fill vacancy ; 1865, Thomas Boden ; 1866, John Waters; 1867, Theodore Grace; 1868, George McStay ; 1869, Thomas Boden ; 1870, Horace J. Johnson ; 1871, Theodore Grace, James A. Miller, to fill vacancy ; 1872, Nel- son B. Reynolds, to full term, and also to fill vacancy ; 1873, Edward S. Blakes- lee ; 1874, Alexander L. Means, Horace J. Johnson, to fill vacancy ; 1875, Horace J. Johnson ; 1876, Henry S. Buel; 1877, Edward S. Blakeslee.
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