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 87
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A view of Mr. Neal's property appears on another page of this volume.
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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
283
JONAH GROSS. [FROM PORTRAIT, PAINTED FIFTY YEARS AGO.]
JONAH GROSS.
The subject of this sketch was born in Enfield, Hampshire county, Massachu- setts, April 14, 1790. In the year 1816 he united in marriage with Harriet Harwood, who was a native of the same place, and born November 28, 1796. The fruits of this union were five children,-two sons and three daughters,-of whom but two are now living-Harriet E. Wright,* of Springfield, Oakland County, and Alfred Gross, of Lafayette, Gratiot county, Michigan.
Jonah Gross came to Michigan the 1st of May, 1832, and located government land in Springfield township, and the following October he removed his family to his purchase. At that time there was but one other settler in the town. The land which Mr. Gross located in 1832 is still in possession of the family.
Death took from him his companion May 19, 1842, but he took another help- meet, Julia A. Keeler, December 28, 1843. One child, still living, was the re- sult of this marriage.
Mr. Gross took a prominent part in the affairs of his township, and held nearly all the various town offices up to the time of his death. He died January 16, 1858, aged nearly sixty-eight years. Julia, his second wife, died December 26, . 1866, aged forty-seven years and ten months.
DAVID A. WRIGHT.
David A. Wright was born in Granville, Washington county, New York, June 16, 1813. His parents were both natives of that county. In the year 1824 his father, Derrick J. Wright, removed with his family to Oneida county. In 1843 they all emigrated to Michigan ; part of the family coming on the water as far as Detroit, and the rest with a team through Canada. Previous to this David A. Wright had been united in marriage (September 13, 1834) with Mary D. Camp- bell, a sister of the wife of Horatio Wright, now residing in Groveland township. Mrs. David Wright died in the State of New York, and left two children, both daughters,-Susan S., born January 4, 1841, and Sarah M., November 3, 1843. The former is now the wife of Mr. Brainard J. Phillips, of Springfield township, and the latter is the wife of Edward B. Murgittroyd, of Davisburgh. Mr. Wright was married to Miss Harriet E. Gross on the 7th of March, 1853, and five children were born to them, as follows : Porter A., April 29, 1854; Alice A., August 20, 1855, died September 12, 1855 ; Theodore G., October 3, 1856 ; Willie P., July 2, 1860 ; Lucy J., October 25, 1862.
Mrs. Wright is a daughter of Jonah Gross, the second settler in Springfield township, and accompanied the family to Michigan in the spring of 1832, when she was but a few years old. They came from Hampshire county, Massachusetts. Mrs. Wright has resided longer in Springfield than any other person now living in it, and her earliest recollections are associated with the township, dating back for a period of forty-five years.
Mr. Wright was a prominent and popular man during his life among the inhabitants of Oakland County, and on the 19th of January, 1877, when he had reached the age of nearly sixty-four years, and the " reaper whose name is Death" gathered him in at the harvest-time of his existence, an appreciative and loving community deeply felt his loss, and realized that a "bright and shining
DER
MRS. JONAH GROSS. [FROM PORTRAIT, PAINTED FIFTY YEARS AGO.]
light " had been extinguished, and a much-respected citizen taken from among them.
He was instrumental in securing a post-office at Austin, on the old Detroit and Saginaw turnpike, as early as 1845-46, and until within a few years of his death he held the office of postmaster the whole time, with the exception of a few months. The office was named for him (David AUSTIN Wright), and for twenty- five years he discharged its duties. He was always a strong Democrat, as were also his two brothers, and in 1849 represented a part of Oakland County on that ticket in the lower house of the legislature. In 1852 he was chosen State senator, and served one term. In the Masonic fraternity he was among the most promi- nent members in the county. Was an early member of Austin lodge, No. 48 (Masters' lodge), and later of Austin chapter, No. 44, R. A. M. He also assisted in organizing a commandery at Fentonville, Genesee county. He was three times elected coroner of Oakland County, and was also a prominent member of Davis- burgh grange, No. 245, P. of H., being one of its charter members. He was truly a representative man, and his bereaved family are accorded the heartfelt " sympathy of all who knew him, while a tear is dropped to his memory and a hope cherished that
" When this life is o'er,
In the life to come they may meet once more."
JEFFERSON K. TINDALL
was born in Sussex county, New Jersey, November 25, 1829, and when nearly four years of age was brought, in company with four other children, to Michigan by his father, Joseph Tindall, who located, in the spring of 1833, in Independ- ence township, Oakland County. The trip from New Jersey was made entirely overland, the family coming through with a team, and crossing the States of Pennsylvania and Ohio.
About 1838 they moved into Oxford township, where Joseph Tindall died in , 1856, aged fifty-three years. Mrs. Tindall is yet living, at the age of seventy. After the settlement in Michigan five children were born, and of the entire num- ber (ten) eight are now living, all but one in Michigan. The youngest son, M. Luther Tindall, resides in California.
Jefferson K. Tindall arrived at man's estate while living in Oxford township, and in the fall of 1856 engaged in the mercantile business at Holly village with W. B. Arms, under the firm-name of " Arms & Tindall." Previous to this he had been three years in a store kept by Mr. Arms at the White Lake settlement.
November 19, 1857, Mr. Tindall was married to Mary J. Day, daughter of Eli H. Day, now of Davisburgh. He continued his residence at Holly until 1861, when he returned to Oxford village and engaged also in the mercantile business. In the spring of 1862, having fears lest the high prices which then prevailed should go down so suddenly as to seriously affect his finances, he sold his stock at Oxford and purchased the farm on section 5, in Springfield township, to which he soon after removed, and where he has since resided. As time developed he was in no danger from an anticipated financial crash, and his successor prospered. Mr. and Mrs. Tindall are the parents of four children :
WARD DAY, born April 20, 1859; died July 6, 1860. GRACE, born June 20, 1861.
MARY, born December 7, 1864.
# A view of the residence of Mrs. Wright, and portraits of herself and husband, will be found in connection with the history of Springfield township.
284
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
JAY K., born February 27, 1869.
Politically, Mr. Tindall is a Republican, and very popular among his fellow- citizens. For seven years he held the office of supervisor of Springfield town- ship, being elected the first time in 1866 and the last time in 1873 .* In 1864 he was a candidate for county treasurer, and was only defeated by the rejection of the soldiers' vote, with which he would have been elected by several hundred majority. Mr. Tindall enlisted in the Union army, and served with distinction during the great civil war of 1861-65, which threatened to " dissolve the Union," but so signally failed.
In his religious views Mr. Tindall takes an independent stand, and instead of acquiescing in the general orthodox opinions of Christianity is exceedingly liberal.
Mrs. Tindall's father, Eli H. Day, is one of the pioneers of Springfield, having settled in 1838. For more particular notice of him, see the history of Springfield township.
Mr. Tindall's ancestry were from the lowlands along the river Tyne, in Eng- land, and the name as originally bestowed was derived from the locality in which they lived,-" Tyne Dale,"-by general usage brought down to Tyndale, Tyndall, and finally Tindall, the latter being the present spelling.
ELI BRONDIGE.
This gentleman is a native of the State of New York, having been born near Lockport, February 2, 1828. His mother died when he was small, and after her death his father left home, and was never heard of but once afterwards. Eli accompanied his uncle, Eli H. Day, to Springfield township in 1838, and is now residing on a portion of Mr. Day's old farm. He has been a farmer all his life, and has lived on his present place since September, 1854. He was married July 4, 1850, to Margaret A. Fenwick, of the township of Rose. Her father, John Fenwick, was one of the pioneers of that township, and was originally from Eng- land, having settled afterwards in the town of Clyde, Seneca (now Wayne) county, New York. He emigrated to Oakland County, Michigan, in 1836, with his wife and nine children, and settled in Rose township.
Mr. and Mrs. Brondige are the parents of four children, as follows :
EUGENE, born May 1, 1852; married December 27, 1876, to Miss Alice Fos- ter, daughter of Samuel Foster, of Springfield township ; now living on the farm adjoining that of his father.
GEORGE. born October 15, 1855.
MARY ELLA, born June 24, 1862.
ELI J., born July 10. 1873.
The latter three are all living at home.
Mr. Brondige is a Republican in politics, and has held numerous township offices. He has never sought for office, but has been given positions of trust by the people in consequence of his known integrity and force of character. He is the owner of a fine farm, well improved, containing one hundred and thirty-two acres. Since coming to the township he has helped break up a large amount of land, and his life has been a practical illustration of the old adage, that
"Whoever by the plow would thrive, Himself must either hold or drive."
He has removed the stumps and stone from his farm, and of the latter there were, in June. 1877, only four small heaps left. The stone have been largely utilized in building fences, and the value of his property materially increased thereby.
Mr. Brondige says that, on their arrival in Michigan, he and the family of Mr. Day were four days coming from Detroit to Springfield. Their goods were drawn
by a yoke of oxen over roads that were simply " awful." When they were near the village of Clarkston, Mr. Brondige stopped at a house and asked for a drink of water. The lady asked him if he would not like a drink of milk, and he told her he most assuredly would, as he had not seen any since leaving home. She gave him a quantity of the lacteal fluid, which was the first he tasted in Michi- gan, and for which he had a wonderful relish.
During winters the young people of the neighborhood enjoyed themselves at spelling-schools and other gatherings, and were without thought of care when seated in a merry load behind a yoke of cattle and being drawn over the snow to some place of enjoyment,-spelling-school, husking-bee, apple-paring, or other assemblage peculiar to the time.
Mr. Brondige has made for himself a pleasant home, with all surroundings to render it happy. A view of his premises appears in another part of this work.
SAMUEL FOSTER.
Among the representatives of Great Britain who emigrated from their native land and chose for themselves homes on the soil of the republic of the United States, we find the subject of this sketch. He was born in Kent county, Eng- land, April 17, 1820, and in 1828 accompanied his parents " far o'er the deep blue sea," and settled at Utica, Oneida county, New York. In 1836, Samuel Foster, then but sixteen years of age, determined to come to Michigan, his oldest brother, Frederick, having emigrated to that State the year before and located in Detroit, where he followed the trade of a harness-maker. Following the bent of his inclination, young Samuel arrived in Detroit in 1836, and stayed there three years, learning the carpenter's trade during the time. His father, Horatio Fos- ter, Sr., was also a carpenter, and as he never amassed a great deal of property his sons were obliged to push into the world for themselves, Samuel with the rest. In 1840 he came to Oakland County to live. In the spring of 1839 he helped build the grist-mill at Clarkston for Jeremiah and Nelson Clark. When Mr. Foster came to Detroit he made the trip alone. although a mere boy.
On the 26th of August, 1845, he was married to Miss Sarah Parker, a native of Leicestershire, England, where she was born January 15, 1819. Her father, William Parker, emigrated to America in 1832, and settled in Erie county, New York. Miss Parker made a trip to Michigan in 1844 to visit her sister, Mrs. Green, of Springfield township, Oakland County. The trip from Detroit to Pon- tiac was made over the old " Detroit and Pontiac railway," and the time occupied in making the journey was six hours, or from four till ten o'clock P.M. On arriving at Pontiac she put up at the " Hodges House," and says she " hardly knew where she was." She finally made her way to her sister's and was relieved from further trouble.
Mr. and Mrs. Foster are the parents of six children, born as follows :
SAMUEL, September 20, 1847.
SARAH ANN, December 26, 1849.
CHARLES THOMAS, December 8, 1851.
ALICE, January 20, 1854.
HORATIO, December 9, 1856.
LETITIA, June 19, 1859.
After Mr. Foster was married (1845), he and his brother Frederick were in partnership for twenty years, Frederick having charge of the farm and Samuel working at his trade. At present the latter attends exclusively to farming. He is quite an extensive stock-raiser, and owns a finely-improved farm of two hun- dred and ninety acres,-two hundred and forty on section 4 and fifty on section 9. The place was originally settled, in 1837, by his wife's brother-in-law, Nolton Bigelow.
In politics Mr. Foster is " neutral," always voting for the man in his opinion best calculated to fill the position, regardless of party distinction.
# See list of township officers for Springfield.
1104
TROY TOWNSHIP.
THE beautiful agricultural township described in official records as town 2 north, range 11 east, bears the local name of Troy. Its eastern boundary is the county of Macomb, and on its north, west, and south it has the townships of Avon, Bloomfield, and Royal Oak, respectively. Originally attached to Bloomfield, when that town comprised the south two-fifths of the county, it became an independent town in 1827, and in 1836 its bounds became co-extensive with the congressional township above described.
The surface of Troy is gently undulating, and is remarkable for its uniform appearance. The Rouge river, which forms in the northwestern part of the town- ship, on section 5, and flows in a southwesterly direction through sections 8, 18, and 19 into Bloomfield, has some hills along its course, but they do not attain any great elevation, and all of them are readily cultivated. The Rouge is the only stream in the township. Its banks are low and swampy to a considerable extent, rendering the stream sluggish and unfit for water-power. Before the settlement of the country there was a brook in the northeastern part of the township, but there is now only a periodic flow of water in its channel. Another small stream flowed from the centre of the town southward, but this, too, is dry the greater portion of the year, except within a short distance of its source. Troy is not so well watered as some of the other towns of Oakland, only one large perpetual spring being found. This is on section 15, on a cone-shaped elevation, and emits a strong volume of water, which has a very salty taste. There are numerous small springs from the base of a low gravel ridge, running through the township from northeast to southwest, but these are affected by the drouth, and flow but a few months in a year. The water-level is very low in the southeastern part of the town, and can only be reached by digging to a great depth. Numerous artesian wells have been dug in that region, and flow from a depth of a hundred feet.
The ridges of Troy were originally timbered with oak, with but little under- growth, and often running into openings. The lowlands were more heavily wooded, principally with ash, elm, and beech. Hard maple abounded, affording many sugar-bushes. There was no pine, but an occasional tamarack, growing in the small marshes. The timber supply of Troy at present is ample.
The soil varies from a clay to a clay-loam, sand, and gravel, clay-loam predomi- nating. There was not much plain surface, and nearly all the soil is extremely productive, yielding large returns of the different cereals and grasses. Mixed hus- bandry prevails, and much of the reputation of Troy as one of the foremost farm- ing towns arises from this judicious method of cultivation.
The population is fourteen hundred, and the people are noted for their thrifty and industrious habits, which have made them one of the wealthiest communities in the county.
EARLY LAND PURCHASES.
It is generally believed that the first lands purchased from the government were certain tracts on section 19, and the entries were made on the 12th of February, 1819, by Messrs. Castle, Hunter, Hamilton, and Fairbanks. No other purchases followed until October 22 of the same year, when Ezra Baldwin made an entry on section 18. In the month following, Michael Kemp made a purchase on section 3, and in December, Michael Beach became the owner of a lot on section 8.
From 1820 to 1822 a large number of purchases were made,-some for actual settlement, and others for speculative purposes. Among those buying in that period were John Prindle, George Abbey, Joshua Davis, Ebenezer Belding, S. V. R. Trowbridge, Jesse Perrin, P. J. Perrin, Luther Fletcher, Aaron Webster, Still- man Bates, Wm. Wellman, A. W. Wellman, Silas Glazier, Guy Phelps, Johnson Niles, Edmund Downer, Ira Jennings, Humphrey Addams, and Silas Sprague.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
One of the first to make a permanent settlement in Troy was Johnson Niles, who was a native of Richfield, Otsego county, New York. He came to Michigan in the spring of 1821, and purchased one hundred and sixty acres on the north- east of section 9, receiving from the government a title signed by President Mon- roe. He returned to New York for his family, which consisted of his wife, Rhoda, -whose maiden name was Phelps, born at Pittsfield, Massachusetts,-his sons, Orange J. and George, and his daughter, Julia, and, embarking on a schooner at Dunkirk, reached Detroit after a fourteen days' passage. He at once procured a conveyance for his few goods, and proceeded to Oakland County, which at that time had only some fourteen families living within its bounds. Being a carpenter
by trade, he. assisted George Postal, of Avon, in erecting several buildings that winter, among them being the first frame house in the county. The next year he built a log house on his land, and moved there, at that time several miles from any settlement, in the primitive wilderness. He improved his land at once, and in the fall of 1822 seeded several acres with wheat, from the crop of which was manufactured the first flour ever made from wheat grown in Troy. The wheat was thrashed with a flail, and cleaned with a "grain-fan," and then he conveyed it to Detroit-going by way of Mount Clemens, forty miles-to be ground at the famous ox-power grist-mill of General Cass. His provisions Mr. Niles was often obliged to carry on his back from Detroit, and that, too, by way of Mount Clem- ens, since the direct road was rendered impassable by the mud and water in the neighborhood of Royal Oak. His log house, though comfortable for those times, was utterly barren of what would now be called furniture. The only table the Niles family had was the board cover of an old-fashioned bread-tray,-one end stuck in a crevice of the logs, the other supported by an iron-wood stick stuck in a hole in the rude floor. The chairs were made of ironwood poles framed together, with elm- bark bottoms; and the bedsteads were of ironwood, with elm-bark for cordage. This was the fit-out which awaited Mrs. Niles, and in this home she lived many years without any near neighbors except the dusky sons and daughters of the forest, who held her in great esteem, and who never molested her, or treated her otherwise than with affectionate kindness. Very often Mrs. Niles would ride her Indian pony, unattended, to Pontiac, to do her shopping, following the trail through the forests, whose stillness was for the most part unbroken by any sounds save the yell of the Indian and the howl of wild beasts.
Mr. Niles lived at this place until his death, being from the first one of the leading men of the county, and the founder of Troy Corners. His connection with the affairs of this place will be recorded in a history of that village, and his political services will be noted in a personal sketch, following the history of Troy. Of the Niles family, George is the only remaining member, and now resides at the place where, fifty-five years ago, all was one vast wild. The others have all been gathered to their kindred dead, Johnson Niles finishing his earthly career on the 23d of March, 1872.
A worthy compeer, in every trait which distinguishes the true man, and scarcely behind Johnson Niles in pioneer enterprise, was Stephen V. R. Trow- bridge. This notable family was one of the first to make a permanent settlement in the western part of Troy, and among the first in the township. Mr. Trowbridge came from Elmira, New York, in the fall of 1821, and settled on section 18. On this tract of land he lived, passing through all the gradations of life incident to a country transformed from a wilderness to an endless array of fertile fields until his death in 1859. His services for the town and State were of a high order, and promotive of their greatest good. He was the first supervisor of Troy, and filled that and other town offices many subsequent terms. He also served as a State senator, and identified himself with every project calculated to benefit society. His family imitated his example and became well known, not only in Oakland County history, but some of the members have achieved a national reputation. The oldest of his sons, Charles A., is a merchant in New York city ; another son, Rowland E., was a member of Congress for a number of terms, and now resides at Lansing; William P. is a professor in Yale college; Tillman is a missionary in Turkey; Luther is a lawyer of note in Detroit; and Guy M. is a farmer and deputy United States collector. One of the three daughters married the dis- tinguished missionary, Rev. Goodell, and accompanied him to Turkey, where they remained until his failing health warned him to return to his native land, where he shortly afterwards died, at Ypsilanti, Michigan.
The homes of Johnson Niles and S. V. R. Trowbridge were headquarters for the early immigrants coming to Troy. No one thought of settling in the town- ship before calling upon these men and getting their advice as to the locality best adapted for settlement, and to procure such other information and material assist- ance as might be of advantage. And it was largely owing to the counsel and direction of these men that Troy settled so rapidly : there being more settlers within its bounds in a limited period than in any other township.
The settlers of Troy, coming prior to 1825, endured many hardships, and had to resort to many ingenious methods of living to avoid starvation. Let the his- tory of one serve to show what had to be encountered, what trials had to be borne, and what reward crowned their patient, persistent efforts to achieve the mastery over nature, and to reduce the untamed forest to a fruitful condition.
285
286
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
John Jones came from Jefferson county, New York, in the spring of 1822, and settled on the northwest quarter of section 19, where he purchased forty acres of land. The journey from Detroit to this place was made with an ox-team, and took several days, there being no roads, and all the signs they had to show where they were going were blazed trees. Arriving on their land, they built a log shanty, covered with bark, cleared a small piece of ground, and planted corn. They now took a job of chopping and clearing to earn money to buy a yoke of steers, as the little money they had when they came to the country was all spent, buying their land and provisions for the family, which consisted of his father and mother, and John's brother Joseph, and his sister Margaret. Having been obliged to go in debt ten dollars for the oxen, John shouldered his axe and started to hunt work to earn this balance. Wages were then low,-from thirty to fifty cents a day,-and a day's work meant the time from sunrise until dark ; but he earned enough to pay the debt, and felt rich when he was the undisputed owner of the cattle. While thus working, the family's supply of corn-meal gave out, and not having money to purchase meal, they took some of their growing corn, in August, dried it on the roof of their shanty, and then took it to the mill. This supplied food until the corn had fully ripened. In a few years they sold their first lot of land, and purchased a larger tract on the northwest quarter of section 21. On this they built a log house in the spring of 1824, which was covered with shakes, and which had a floor split out of logs. The work of clearing now went on apace, and although their food was more abundant, it was still of the simplest nature, and they esteemed themselves fortunate if they had pork, corn- bread, and a few potatoes. A pound of tea and ten pounds of sugar would last them a year, and as to the luxuries of life, they knew not what they were. The . winter was spent in chopping, often standing in water a foot deep, for they were compelled to do it to procure the means of life, and the money they needed to im- prove their land. Thus enduring years of toil and hardships, the recital of which would fill many pages, they received the reward of patient industry, and in the course of time found themselves elevated from penury to wealth, and in the place of the unbroken forest saw homes amid fields yellow with the golden grain.
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