History of Oakland County, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories, Part 84

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 84

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The total number of farms in the township that year was 179, with an aggre- gate area of 19,643 acres, the average number of acres per farm was 109.73; the total amount of wheat growing in May, 1874, was 3359 acres, against 3207 for 1873; in the latter year were harvested also 1062 acres of corn ; the total yield of wheat for 1874 was 36,001 bushels; of corn, 31,160 bushels; of all other grains, 41,067 bushels ; potatoes raised, 10,753 bushels; hay cut, 1315 tons ; wool sheared, 19,852 pounds; pork marketed, 53,120 pounds; butter made, 46,510 pounds ; fruit dried for market, 2222 pounds; cider made, 356 barrels ; total number of horses, one year old and over, owned in the township, 484 ; work- oxen, 29 ; milch-cows, 546 ; neat cattle, one year old and over, other than oxen and cows, 497; swine over six months old, 535; sheep over six months old, 4077 ; number of sheep sheared in 1873, 3575 ; total number of acres in apple-, peach-, pear-, plum-, and cherry-orchards, 441 ; bushels of apples raised in 1872, 13,706; in 1873, 10,861 ; total value of all fruit and garden vegetables raised in 1872, $4466; in 1873, $6242 ; total number of acres of improved land, 12,918; total acres of taxable land, 19,478.

Considerable portions of the township are as yet comparatively unimproved. Generally, however, the improvements are of a high order, and finely-kept farms, neat and tasty dwellings, and comfortable out-buildings attest the advancement that has been made in the forty-seven years which have elapsed since first the settler swung his axe " amid the sea-like solitude." Notably in the northern and eastern portions of the township do the improvements attract attention. They are in the oldest-settled localities, where they would naturally be sought after by the stranger. However, in the other portions the inhabitants are not backward in the work of beautifying, and the landscape is dotted here and there with the cosy white dwellings of the wealthier class of farmers, and an air of prosperity reigns over all.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS.

From an article by the late Hon. Thomas J. Drake we give the following paragraph :

"In town 4 north, of range 8 east, now called Springfield, on the 19th of July, 1830, Daniel Le Roy made the first entry. He purchased on section 13, including ' le petite fontaine, or Little springs.' This place had a wide renown ; it was the resting-place of the trader and trapper, of the red man as well as the white man when on his journey to and from Saginaw and other places in the northern wilderness. Immediately after the purchase the place was occupied by Asahel Fuller. In 1833, Giles Bishop, O. Powell, John M. Calkins, and Jonah Gross purchased."

The first actual settler in the township of Springfield was, therefore, Asahel Fuller,* who located on the Le Roy purchase in 1830. He afterwards built the first hotel at Springfield post-office. Mr. Fuller's daughter, Ann, was the first white child born in the township.

Jonah Gross became the second settler of the township. He emigrated with his family from Hampshire county, Massachusetts, in September, 1832,; the family then consisting of his wife, three sons, and one daughter, the latter now the widow of Hon. David A. Wright. One son is living, and he and Mrs. Wright are the only ones of the family left.

Mr. Gross had been to the county the preceding spring, and made a purchase of land on section 10, where he finally settled. He bought from government, and the property has always been held by some of the family. The only persons within seven miles of Mr. Gross' home when he first arrived were in the family of Asahel Fuller, on section 13.

Jonah Gross died in January, 1858, at the age of sixty-eight years. His wife

had preceded him to her long home sixteen years before, having departed this life May 19, 1842, when forty-six years of age. Mr. Gross was much esteemed during his life by his fellow-citizens, and was elected by them to numerous posi- tions of trust. He was chosen town clerk at the first election held in the town- ship, and the way in which he kept the records shows that he was methodical and systematic in his business matters, and he was undoubtedly so in his private affairs.

The person who is accredited as having been the third settler in Springfield was Giles Bishop, who located on section 24, and built a log house immediately in the rear of the spot now occupied by the residence of Theodore Ellis. This house he opened as a tavern, it being the first in the township. "Bishop's tavern," as it was called, was well known to travelers along the turnpike, and many was the merry gathering therein. It was built immediately after he came, probably in 1833. Mr. Bishop's son, Griswold Bishop, accompanied his father to the township. He was married, and a daughter of his, named Beulah, was the second white child born in Springfield.

These first settlers were the avant-coureurs of an army of pioneers which was close in their footsteps,-messengers come to give warning to the various brute inhabitants of the forest and glade, upland and valley, that a mighty race was approaching which should lay claim to their primeval home, and out of the wilder- ness erect homes for the many venturesome ones who had thus dared the dangers of a wild life. Their onward march was irresistible; the rod of power was in their hands, and naught but death could deter them from their object. Obstacles vanished from before them, and vast difficulties were overcome as if by magic. They had come to lay the foundation of a State, and the indomitable will of their forefathers, the persevering energy of those who had been before them a "race of pioneers," had lost none of their attributes in the descent to a later generation. Boldly the settlers of the land began their work, and the crash of falling trees was soon heard, the plowshare began its duty of turning the furrows which were to receive the seed for future crops, log cabins sprang up among the trees, the busy mill-wheel ere long began its ceaseless turning, and life in a new country was fairly under way. Sickness and hunger were met and borne patiently, although the trial was often severe, and after a long and weary struggle the invading host conquered, and have built up a magnificent inheritance for their children.

The first settlers of the township have been noticed in the order they came, but those whose names shall now be given will not be classified as to their suc- cessive dates of settlement.

Daniel J. Turner is from the town of Riga, Monroe county, New York, having settled in Springfield in the fall of 1844, with his wife and seven children,-four sons and three daughters. He purchased land on section 11, the same now owned by his son, E. D. Turner. During the winter of 1844-45, Mr. Turner and family stayed near the Anderson settlement, and removed to their land the follow- ing spring. Mr. Turner purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land from second hands. No improvements had been made upon it, and the first were made by himself. One son was born after the family settled, and the eight children are all living. Mr. Turner and his wife are also yet alive, he having reached the age of about seventy-four, and she about seventy-two. The son, E. D. Turner, was about eighteen years of age when his father moved west, and the next summer (1845) he worked out at the rate of seven dollars per month. He is now re- siding in the village of Davisburgh, and rents his farm. He is the owner of four hundred and twenty-five acres of land, which he facetiously remarks " is all paid for."

John Walls is an immigrant from Perthshire, Scotland, from whence he came in 1836, and located on section 35, in Springfield, in March of that year. He was accompanied by his wife and two children,-one son and one daughter. A son, William Walls, was born the 29th of the following June, and the three chil- dren are now living,-William, in Davisburgh ; the daughter, Caroline, in West' Bloomfield, now the wife of William Walls, also from Scotland, but not related except by marriage ; and the other son, Collin Walls, in the town of Clarke, Durham county, Ontario, Canada. Mr. Walls, Sr., is also residing in the same county, having removed there in 1873, after a residence of thirty-seven years on his farm in Springfield.

Mr. Walls originally purchased one hundred and seventy acres, all but ten acres of it from the government. He built a substantial log house, about eighteen by thirty feet in dimensions, and one of the best then in the township.

Robert and John Pepper were born in Ireland, and emigrated to the United States of America, the former in 1831 and the latter in 1832. They settled in the town of Le Roy, Genesee county, New York, and remained there until the month of June, 1838, when they brought their families to Oakland County, Michigan, and settled in the midst of an unbroken forest on section 19, Spring- field township. They made the trip to Detroit by water, and thence to Spring- field with ox-teams they had brought with them.

* It has been found impossible to procure extensive information regarding this pioneer settler of Springfield, hence the above short notice.

t According to Judge Drake, 1833. The above information is furnished by his daughter, Mrs. David A. Wright.

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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

They purchased between them three hundred and sixty acres of government land (this in 1836), and John afterwards purchased an additional quantity in the town of Rose. Robert Pepper was accompanied by his wife and two sons, and John by his wife and one son, William H. Pepper, who afterwards died in the United States service during the Rebellion. He was a member of Company B of the Fifth Michigan Cavalry (originally First Michigan Mounted Rifles). Another son of John Pepper, born after the family settled, served during the war in the Third Michigan Cavalry. John Pepper and his wife became the parents of ten children,-five sons and five daughters,-of whom six are now living. Mr. Pepper died in December, 1873, aged sixty years, and his widow is residing in Davisburgh.

Robert Pepper and wife are the parents of five children,-three sons and two daughters,-all living.

Previous to their settlement in Michigan, Robert had been to the State with a quantity of Genesee county (New York) cloth, which he had sold " in quanti- ties to suit purchasers." At the time they located on their farms a log house was immediately erected on Robert Pepper's place, and the farm carried on jointly by the brothers. Finally John built a log house on his own property, and re- moved to it with his family, after which the farm was divided as purchased.

Robert Pepper is still living where he settled thirty-nine years ago, and the work of clearing the forest around him and preparing the fertile fields as they now appear has been largely performed by his own hands.

Eli H. Day, from the town of New Hartford, near Utica, Oneida county, New York, located two eighties on section 4 and settled in June, 1838, with his wife and one child,-a daughter. He was also accompanied by his sister's son, Eli Brondige . now residing on a part of the old homestead), and George Bigelow and family. Mr. Day had been employed in the old " Utica mills," a cotton- manufacturing establishment, previous to his removal to Michigan. One son, Andrew H. Day, born in July, 1840, is now living on the old farm. His daughter, Mary Jane, is the wife of Jefferson K. Tindall, living in the same neighborhood.

Previous to the arrival of Mr. Day, Nolton and Spencer Bigelow had located in the fall of 1837, and built first a log cabin, seven by nine feet in dimensions, and in the following spring erected two log houses, one for their parents and one for their brother, George Bigelow, to whom the land belonged. The Bigelows were from the same neighborhood with Mr. Day, in New York.

On the arrival of the latter, he occupied the first log cabin built by the Bigelow boys until he could erect a house for himself and family. He built a frame dwelling, eighteen by twenty-four feet, and moved into it before it was entirely finished. This was the same summer,-1838.

On one occasion Mr. Day was out with a man named Dilley, after his oxen. He had purchased a bell of more than ordinary size and hung it on the neck of one of his oxen. The animals had strayed off a considerable distance, and the sound of the bell seemed to come from every direction at once. The woods and hills re-echoed to its tones, and Mr. Day and his companion " followed fast and followed faster," until they missed their way and knew not in which direction to turn in order to reach their home.

Mr. Day, in speaking of the incident, remarked that he had no idea there were any such wild places in the country as he saw on that occasion. Everything seemed strange, and the two men were in trouble indeed. Finally they arrived in sight of a frame house partly finished, and on seeing it Mr. Day told his com- panion they must be a long distance from home, for no one was erecting a frame house anywhere in his neighborhood. At last they espied a large brush-heap near the house, which Mr. Day asserted looked very much like one he himself had piled up, yet they failed to recognize the spot until they were close upon it and found unmistakable evidence that they were at home, instead of being more than three miles away, as they supposed. Their surprise was great, as everything had looked so strange to them a few minutes before. Settlers frequently were lost in this way, and localities with which they were familiar appeared as strangely to them as if they had never seen them before. It has been said that becoming lost in this manner will force a man into insanity quicker than almost anything else; but luckily, in all instances of the kind known in this region the settler was fortunate enough to recognize some landmark before his brain was endangered.

Mr. Day is now residing in Davisburgh, and is engaged in the mercantile busi- ness, occupying a store in the east end of the business-block built by Myron Hickey, on the east side of the river. He has been a prominent man in the township since his settlement ; held the office of justice of the peace for two terms, having been elected in 1846 and 1850.

Philip Friday, Sr., came to Springfield in July, 1838, from Albany, New York, and purchased eighty acres of land from his half-brother, Daniel Jones, who had entered it as a portion of his farm two or three years before. Mr. Friday was accompanied by his wife, four sons, and one daughter ; three sons are now

living,-Daniel, Isaac, and Philip,-all in Springfield. Mr. Friday's sister, Mary, had accompanied Mr. Jones at the time he settled. She was never married, and died March 20, 1876, aged seventy-eight years. Mrs. Friday has been dead a number of years ; but her husband is yet living, at the age of eighty-one.

There were three brothers in the Jones family who settled in the county,- Daniel and Timothy in Springfield, and Jesse in Groveland, where he now resides. Their father lived to the extreme old age of one hundred and five years. He had served in the ranks of the Revolutionary army, although but fifteen years of age when first called upon to bear arms.

When Mr. Friday arrived with his family the Joneses were all living together (the three brothers), and Mr. Friday built a small log house on the land belong- ing to Daniel Jones, in which he lived four years, afterwards erecting a frame house on his own place and moving into it. The latter building is yet standing, and occupied by Mr. Friday and his son Daniel and family.

The ancestors of the house of Friday were from Germany and Holland, and settled in the United States at an early period. The name was probably origi- nally spelled Freichtag, as it appears in that orthography at present among those of the name who are later arrivals in this country.

Some time in the year 1838 the population of Springfield was increased by the arrival from Columbia county, New York, of Samuel C. Thomas and his brother William, with their families; Samuel having his wife and two daughters with him and William only his wife. Both men were natives of the State of Rhode Island, and possibly removed from it for fear of getting lost " in some vast wilder- ness." Soon after their arrival in Springfield the wife of William Thomas died, and he returned to New York. Samuel lived for three years on land owned by different persons, among them Judge Melvin Dorr, and finally purchased for him- self on section 11. William Thomas is now residing in the city of Hudson, Columbia county, New York.

Samuel C .. Thomas is at present living in the village of Davisburgh. He is the father of five children, of whom only one-a daughter, Mary-is now living. She is the wife of Daniel Ward, of Oxford township. Mr. Thomas removed from his farm to Davisburgh in 1876. He was a resident of the township for twenty-five years before he visited his old home in New York. In 1839 he built what he says was the first wagon ever constructed between Pontiac and Flint. He had learned the trade of a wheelwright while living in the State of New York. After he had finished his house in Springfield he built a small shop against one end of it, and in that made his wagon.

Levi Churchill visited Michigan in 1834, and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land south of the present site of Davisburgh ; but at that time the country was so wild that he chose not to settle until later. After waiting seven years, he removed with his wife and son from Chautauqua county, New York, and settled on his place in May, 1841, where he has since resided. His son, Cullen B. Churchill, was an only child, and has been dead a number of years ; his widow and her son are now living with Mr. Churchill, Sr.

Philip S. Frisbee located in Lapeer county, Michigan, in the fall of 1833, and soon afterwards purchased land in Springfield. He moved to the township some time between 1834 and 1841. He was born near Seneca lake, in the State of New York, but was living in Chautauqua county at the time he emigrated to Michigan. He and Mr. Churchill were from the same neighborhood. The latter was born in Hubbardton, Vermont, and when but a year old his father removed to the town of Alexander, Genesee county, New York, being among the early settlers of that county.

Harlow Watson is one of the pioneers of Oakland County, having settled in White Lake township in October, 1837, arriving at Detroit the 3d day of that month. He is now living at Davisburgh. He was born in the town of Skane- ateles, Onondaga county, New York, and came to Michigan from that county. He was accompanied on the boat to Detroit by his mother, sister, brother, and brother-in law, and his own wife and daughter. His sister was a widow, with one son. Mr. Watson's brother, Alvin D. Watson, and his brother-in-law, Horace Root, were both young men, unmarried.

Harlow Watson lived in White Lake township only until the spring of 1838, when he removed to Springfield and settled on section 31. The other boys became homesick and soon went back to New York. Alvin Watson afterwards returned to Oakland County, and is now residing in the village of Waterford. Root also came back, and went afterwards to the State of Illinois, but finally returned to New York, and now resides in the town of Elbridge, Onondaga county.

Mr. Watson has raised three children since he settled in Michigan, and these; with the daughter he brought with him, are all living, and all girls. Mr. Watson purchased his land from second hands, but made the first improvements upon it. The old place is now owned by John Voorheis.

Among the adventures related of pioneers in Oakland County, one which happened to Mr. Watson was not the least exciting of them all. He had been

FREDERICK FOSTER.

MRS. FREDERICK FOSTER.

RESIDENCE OF EDMUND FOSTER, SPRINGFIELD TP, OAKLAND Co, MICH ..

RESIDENCE OF FREDERICK FOSTER, SPRINGFIELD TP., OAKLAND CO, MICH.

tối

RESIDENCE OF J. K. TINDALL SPRINGFIELD, OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

GILBERT DEL

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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

away from home on one occasion helping Harrison Voorheis, butcher, and stayed quite late in the evening. He finally started home, but had gone barely twenty rods from the house when three huge wolves spied him, and thinking, no doubt, he would make a savory meal for their hungry maws, at once concluded to attack him ; but he, having no relish for such proceedings, concluded that "discretion was the better part of valor," and beat a hasty retreat towards home, two miles away. In his own language, he "gathered a club and made lively time through the woods!" Probably Tam O'Shanter, in the wildest part of his wild ride, did not feel half the sensation of fear which beset Mr. Watson on this occasion, and the daring leap of Brady, or the breakneck pace of " Old Put," undoubtedly would be obliged to stand back before the terrific stride of Watson as he at last bolted into his own door-yard and thundered through the door into the house, safe at last. He possessed a huge bull-dog, which he had brought from New York with him, and the brute sallied forth in his might, and the wolves soon made themselves exceedingly scarce in that locality. They did not propose, however, to allow their desire for gore to go unsatiated, and as their human prey had escaped them, they revenged themselves upon a number of sheep belonging to Mr. Watson's neighbors. The next morning Thomas Lapham, then living in White Lake township, went out and killed them. Wolf-scalps were at that time worth eighteen dollars apiece, and Lapham made a very good forenoon's work of it. He afterwards moved into Springfield township, where he died.

Horatio Foster, Sr., settled in the county in 1837, having come from near Utica, Oncida county, New York. He was accompanied by his wife and two sons, and located in Independence township, near what is now Clarkston Station. He died at the age of sixty-four, and his wife at her death was sixty-eight. Of the children there were originally five,-four sons and one daughter,-and all are now living except the oldest son, Horatio. The daughter, Mary Ann Foster, is now the widow of Joseph Harris. She did not locate in Oakland County until some years after the rest of the family had settled.

Horatio Foster, Jr., emigrated to Detroit in 1835, and worked at the harness business for some time, finally removing to Clarkston. Another son, Samuel, settled in 1836, but did not purchase land until 1842, when he bought on section 25, in Springfield township, and lived upon it until 1864, when he removed to his present location on section 4. He was but sixteen years of age when he came to Michigan. His brother, Frederick Foster, is living also in Springfield township, on section 25.

Michigan has her share of the hardy sons of the "Granite State" within her borders, and among them is Milton Sargent, a veteran from the rocky dells of the State which in years gone by kept her inhabitants busy attending to certain troubles with Vermont. The lay of the " Green Mountain boy" of old bore in its burden the important query,

"Swarms Hampshire in arms on our border again ?"

And they were ever ready to meet the invader with the decree, "thus far shalt thou come and no farther,"-and back it up by decisive action if necessary. Happily, those days of feud are over, and glorious " New England," with its ribs of rock, stands as a prominent and steadfast part of the " Union of States."

From New Hampshire, then, came Mr. Sargent,-town of Wentworth, Graf- ton county,-and in 1833 located in what is now Avon township, Oakland County, Michigan. He arrived in Detroit on the 1st day of July, and at Roch- ester the next day. He says he was a "regular old bach." He possessed seventy-eight dollars in cash, and with it purchased forty acres on section 18, in Avon township, it being the last piece of government land on the section. He afterwards purchased additional land in that township, and finally removed to Springfield, arriving there April 3, 1838. He located on the northwest quarter of section 15, now owned by Brainard J. Phillips, having traded his land in Avon for it to a man named Taylor. The latter had built a log cabin on the place and split some rails, but made no further improvements. Mr. Sargent was seventy-nine years old February 11, 1877, and is now living on the old place, with Mr. Phillips.

His oldest brother, John Sargent, enlisted from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in the war of 1812, and served a portion of his time in Fort Gratiot. His time was out in 1817, and he soon after came with Alexander, William, and Benjamin Graham, and settled in Avon township, where he lived two miles west of Rochester. Milton Sargent had not seen his brother for twenty-one years, and the meeting in 1833 was undoubtedly a joyful one.

The first settler on the farm now owned by Moses Garter was Melvin Dorr, who became the first supervisor of Springfield township, and otherwise a very popular man. The same farm was afterwards occupied by Asahel Fuller. Mr. Dorr's remains rest beneath the shade of the orchard on the place.

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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 84

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