USA > Michigan > Oakland County > Portrait and biographical album of Oakland County, Michigan, containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county > Part 101
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ILLIAM L. POWER, a retired farmer and well-known citizen of Farmington was born in Ontario County, N. Y., April 29, 1814. His father, Arthur, was a mative of Provi- dence, R. I., where he was born, November 14, 1771. He emigrated with his widowed mother to
Iremain yours very truly
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South Adams, Mass. When he became a young man his mother gave him 8100 with which he went to Geneseo, N. Y., and bnying some land proceeded to improve it. In 1824 he came to Farmington, and purchased two thousand acres of land, upon which he and his seven sons settled and where they built sawmills and gristmills. He died in 1836 at the age of sixty-six years. His father emigrated with his wife and two sons from England to Amer- iea and these two sons engaged as soldiers in Washı- ington's army and fell in the Revolutionary war.
The mother of our subject was Deborah Aldrich, a native of Massachusetts, who was born February 8, 1775 and died in 1817. The father of our sub- jeet was married three times. His first wife was the mother of seven sons and four daughters. 1lis second marriage was with Mary Dillingham, who beeame the mother of three daughters, two of whom grew to womanhood. His third marriage was with Sarah Lawtan, and she had no children. The eleven children of the first marriage were: Duana and John, deceased; Ira, died at the age of sixty years; Nathan, died when seventy-four years old; Mary, Mrs. Stewart, now residing at Hannibal, Mo., at the age of eighty eight years; Jared, de- eeased at the age of thirty-eight years; Samuel, who lived to be sixty-three; Beulah, Mrs. Spencer, died at the age of twenty-nine; Abram, who lived to be seventy-eight; William L., our subject; and Esther, Mrs. Parker, who resides at Hudson, Mich., and is seventy-five years old. The children of the sec- ond marriage were Deborah, an infant, and Duana, who are all deceased.
William L. Power was thirteen years old when he came with his parents to Michigan. Ilis first schooling was found at Farmington, N. Y., and the next in the woods in Farmington, Mich. His father named the township for his old town in N. Y.
This son remained with his father until the death of the latter and took charge of the farm. The village of Farmington has all been built on this land. Ile has always lived in single blessedness and has traveled a great deal during his lifetime. lle has sold off most of his land and put his money ont at interest, and has retired from active life. He is the oldest resident of the village. He is a spir- itualist and is proud to be known as such, being
very active in the work, and is very much opposed to secret societies. Ile has always been greatly interested in fruit raising and is glad to forward any interest in that direction in the county.
OIIN POUND. As an example of the high- minded merchant, trained in upright habits of business, and distinguished for justice and honesty of dealing in all things, the career of Mr. Pound may with propriety be re- ferred to. As a business man his talents and integ- rity are well known, and as becomes an honorable and true gentleman, his word is always to be held as good as his bond. Sueb a man stands as a mark of the mercantile honesty and progress of his county and is a model and example for men of business in all time to come. We are therefore pleased to perpetuate his features by means of his portrait on the opposite page and to record briefly the main events in his life.
In 1857 Mr. Pound began life in Pontiac a mere lad of fifteen or sixteen, just from school in Eng- land, and in 1870 he founded the present dry-goods business of John Pound & Bro., which is one of the leading houses of Pontiae. The store build- ing is 20x130 feet, and for many years has been well known in Oakland County as "The Beehive." The upper floor is used as a show room for earpets and cloaks, while the firm carry a large and well- selected stock of dry-goods. From his long ex- perience in business and his extensive acquaintance in city and country Mr. Pound has secured a large trade, and sinee 1888, when he took his brother, Mr. James Pound, as partner, he has received the active co-operation of the latter.
A native of England, Mr. Pound was born in the village of Etchilhampton, Wiltshire, March 4, 1842, and is the second son of Jolin and Charlotte (Chamberlain) Pound. His parents, with their three sons, came to the United States in 1857, land- ing at New York City and thenee coming to Pontiac, where both parents died, the father in 1858 and the mother in 1878. Both are interred in the family lot in Oakhill Cemetery. The subject
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of this sketch received his education in his native country and upon his arrival in Pontiac at once sought and obtained remunerative employment in business houses, having proved himself in every way qualified for positions of trust. Ile began his mercantile career by clerking in the dry-goods store of William Robertson, a Scotchman and an early settler here, who died but a few years since.
After remaining in this position three years, Mr. Pound entered the employ of Mr. Thomas Turk, for whom he worked two years. Next he entered the banking house of Comstock & Stout, which after- ward was merged into the First National Bank of Pontiac and where he was book-keeper and teller eight years. In 1868 he made a visit to England, where he spent a pleasant summer, having been absent eleven years. In the same year he mar- ried Miss Elizabeth M. Turk, the eldest dangh- ter of Thomas and Maria Turk, old settlers of Pon- tiac and represented elsewhere in this volume. After marriage Mr. Pound took charge of the busi- ness of Mr. Turk's establishment, while that gen- tleman spent one year in England.
In 1870 Mr. Pound embarked in business for himself, going into partnership with llenry Law- rence under the firm name of Pound & Lawrence. This connection continued two years, when Mr. Lawrence sold out his interest and removed to Minnesota. Afterward Mr. Pound was in business alone until he formed a partnership with his brother in 1888, Mr. and Mrs. Pound are the parents of seven children, namely: Charlotte, Maude, Mabel, Reginald, llerbert. Arthur and Har- old. Their pleasant home on the corner of Huron and Perry Streets is modern in architecture and delightfully situated. All members of the family belong to Zion Episcopal Church, and Mr. Pound is filling the office of Senior Warden, which he has held seven years. In this connection we may add that Mr. Pound has copies of records from the registers of his father's native Parish in Wiltshire, England, and on the first page of the first register of that Parish we find that Michael Pound was one of the wardens thereof in A. D., 1591. That is just three hundred years ago, and now the subject of this sketch is warden of his church in Pontiac in this year of grace, 1891, thus filling the same
office that his ancestor did in his day in his Parish in England.
Mr. Pound possesses many photographs of beau- tiful old places, among which is the church in Eng- land where he was baptized. also the church in which his mother was both baptized and married, as well as the one in which Mrs. Pound's parents were married and where her mother's ancestors are bur- ied. All of these are venerable structures and have well withistood the test of time and the wear and tear of ages past and gone.
Mr. Pound has caused to be placed in Zion Episcopal Church at Pontiac an "In Memoriam" window to his parents, both of whom, as above stated, died in Pontiac. The inscription thereon reads "John Pound, Sen'r, obit 1858 & Char- lotte, his wife, obit 1878." A full grown palm tree spreads its branches throughout the entire window, and seroll work extends entirely aeross it. The text is taken from the Common Prayer Book version of the Psalms: "The righteous shall flour- ish like a palin tree," and the whole is the humble testimony of Mr. Pound to the worth of his de- parted parents, whose memory he ever holds in most affectionate remembrance and esteem, as well for their quiet, peaceable and tranquil lives, as for their ever blessed, pious and Christian example. The windows in this Holy House are now all "in memoriam," erected to the glory of God by various parishioners as well as to the loving memory of departed relatives and friends. "Their children rise up and call them blessed."
OHN W. PERRY, a well-known and intelli- gent farmer of Groveland Township, was born in Walreth Township, Wayne County, N. Y., August 3, 1834. His father, Abra- ham D., born in Hudson, Columbia County, N. Y., in 1795, was a son of Abraham D. Perry, also a na- tive of New York. The Perry family originated in America with the three traditional brothers who came to this country about 1680. One settled in Con- neetient, one in New Jersey and one in New York. From the latter our subject is descended. The
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grandfather of our subject was first cousin to the famous Commodore Oliver Il. Perry, who com- manded the American forces at the battle on Lake Erie in the War of 1812. This grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and lost a leg at the battle of Brandywine. In consequence of this disablement he was a pensioner till the day of his death. He passed away at a ripe old age at Hudson, N. Y.
The father of our subject carly learned the trade of a machinist. He was a natural born mechanic and was frequently employed to set up machinery in cotton mills. While thns employed one day, at the age of twenty years, in Milton. Saratoga Coun- ty, he was taken suddenly and violently ill and was thought to be dying. The girl employes of the mill stood around him and one more tender hearted than the rest imprinted a farewell kiss on his brow, saying that perhaps he had a sister at home for whom the kiss was given. The apparently dying youth opened his eyes with a grateful look. Either the kiss or his natural vigor revived him; he re- covered and very appropriately carried out the romance hy making this lovely girl his wife.
When about twenty five years of age Mr. Perry settled on a farm in Wayne County, N. Y., as he found such work more conducive to health than mechanical pursuits. Ile came to Michigan in May, 1836, and took up one hundred and sixty acres of Government land in Groveland Township, upon which our subject now lives. His land was oak openings and was a perfect sea of wild flowers; when he first stepped upon it it looked like an Eden indeed, with the large oak trees, just leafing out and forming a canopy above the acres of floral beauty. Indian trails crossed his farm and Indian beggars came often to his door. One old chief fre- quently staid over night and slept by the large open fireplace. The family trading was done at Detroit and Pontiac and venison formed the most common meat on their table. In 1850 he built the commodious frame house which now stands on this farm. It was then one of the best in this township. He died in 1851. Ile was a Whig in politics and served as Supervisor and Road Commissioner, help- ing to lay out some of the roads in the township.
Martha Wood, the mother of our subject, was
horn at Milton, Saratoga County, N. Y., August 12, 1798. She was the mother of eleven children, five of whom grew to maturity, namely ; Mary A., (Mrs. Norrin,) Thomas W., Jolmn W., Abram D. and Frances A., (Mrs. Miller). The character of Mrs. Perry was one of great loveliness and decision. She was an earnest and devoted member of the Baptist Church. She had ever a pleasant smile, a kind word, or a friendly deed for all who met her, and was universally beloved. After the death of the father of our subject she married John Hadley, a pioneer neighbor, and moved to Holly, where she died in the year 1870.
The maternal grandfather of him of whom we write was Thomas Wood, a native of New York. When only fourteen years old he served in the Revolutionary War and had charge of signal lights which were burned on mountain tops to ap- prise Washington's army of the movements of the enemy. He was a pensioner of the United States, In his later days he spent four years here on a visit to his children. Ile died at the home of a son at Dexter, N. Y., at the very advanced age of ninety- seven years.
Our subject was two years old when he came with his parents to Oakland County, and he has a vivid recollection of wild animals and other pio- neer experiences. Upon certain conditions which he fulfilled his father deeded to him the home farm where he now lives. He has now one hundred acres, most of it under cultivation.
The marriage of Mr. Perry took place February 14, 1856. His wife who bore the name of Sarah Downey, has been a life long blessing to the hus- band, being a genial companion and in every way a lady of fine attributes and excellent character. She was born in Groveland Township, this county, April 20, 1837, and is a daughter of Alex- ander and Jane ( Hamilton) Downey, pioneers of this township. They were both born in County Down, in the North of Ireland, and after their mar- riage came to America in 1833, making their new home in Genesee County, N. Y. They came to Oakland County. this State in 1836 and cleared a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. They reared nine children, eight of whom are still living. The mother died in 1875 when sixty-eight years old.
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ller husband survived until November 4, 1885, when he died at the age of eighty-three years.
Mr. and Mrs. John W. Perry have three children, namely: Abraham D. who married Laura Horton. Ile is a young man of unusual ability, being what is known as a natural genius. He is a blacksmith and farmer in Shiawassee County; Jolm W. mar- ried Lillie Coventry. He is much like his brother in his character, and farms the home place; and Martha J., who resides at home and has taught school for twelve years. She is a very intelligent young woman. Mrs. Perry is a member of the Methodist Church. Mr. Perry is a Republican in his polities and is an influential man, well-known and well- liked. Ile has been Postmaster of Grove- land for ten years and was prominent in the organ- ization of the Grange. Ile donated land for the hall and was the presiding officer for three years.
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G EORGE NILES, one of the old citizens in years and in his knowledge of events in this county, is engaged in farming on section 10, Troy Township. lle owns ninety aeres of the old homestead and fifty-five acres on seetion 15, and is carrying on the work of general farming with good success. Ile is an excellent judge of horses and one is sure to find on his estate some roadsters that travel well. Ile sold two horses which were disposed of soon afterward for 82,500. Mr. Niles was born at Painted Post, Steuben County, N. Y., May 27, 1820, and was but a year old when he came to this county with his parents. His early playmates were Indian boys and the surroundings were so primitive that he was twelve years old be- fore he had a pair of shoes or a hat. There are few men living who can relate incidents which transpired under their personal observation at so early a period in the history of the Commonwealth as Mr. Niles, and a volume could be filled with what he has witnessed and experienced in connec- tion with the growth of this section.
Johnson Niles, father of our subject, was born at Burlington, Vt., in 1794, and the same year Rhoda Phelps was born in Massachusetts. The couple
were married in Pittsfield, that State, February 15, 1815, and set up their home in Steuben County, N. Y. In 1821 they came to this county via De- troit and made a location near Troy Corners. The nearest white family lived thirteen miles away and the only path was an Indian trail. Mr. Niles had to cut his road to the Corners where a few years later he carried on a store. He traded with the Indians to get his first money and lived for some time in a log house with a bark roof. By slow de- grees, necessitating arduous toil, he improved the farm, and when the country became a little better settled he carried on his mercantile pursnits and bought and sold stock. Ile was Postmaster at Troy Corners twenty-five years and was Justice of the Peace thirty years. lle served as a member of the Legislature five terms and was in the Senate two years. Ile held a very prominent position in the county and his name is inscribed on the arch- ives of the State and well known to all who are familiar with the history of this section. He was a Royal ArchMason, and when he died in 1872 his funeral was conducted by the fraternity. As it was the first in the township where their beautiful serv- ice had been used it attracted attention on that ac- count. Mrs. Niles died Angust 7, 1864.
The family of which George Niles is the young- est child included another son and a daughter. The latter, Julia A., was born in Steuben County, N. Y., March 4, 1816, and married A. C. Luce, a prominent lawyer from Cooperstown. She died February 4, 1848. The second child was Orange Jay who was born September 29, 1818, and died April 12, 1867. He never had but one arın. George Niles received his first schooling in a little log building in Troy Township and on the home farm he learned many useful lessons of conduct and moral principles. Ile spent twenty years of his life as a traveling salesman for the firm of IIolmes & Co., dry-goods merchants in Detroit, and in 1870 returned to the old homestead where he has re- mained. He has surrounded himself with comforts and his home is pleasant and the farm supplied with machinery and well stocked in every respect.
In 1843 Mr. Niles was married to Miss Laura E. Hollister, a native of Westfield, N. Y, who died after two short years of wedded life. She left a
J.C. Killam
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son, George H., who is now with Turk Bros., gro- cery dealers in Pontiac. In 1846 Mr. Niles was again married, his bride being Helen F. Monroe, a native of Troy, N. Y., who died March 18, 1850. She had three children, but one died in infancy. Those who lived to mature years are: Cora, now the wife of Charles E. Sagendorf, clerking for Dan 'L. Davis, a grocery dealer in Pontiac, and Helen, wife of George Partello, of Detroit. A third mar- riage was made by Mr. Niles January 20, 1851, his bride on this occasion being Jane A., daughter of Silas Sprague and his second wife, Amanda Bost- wick. Mr. Sprague came to this State in 1824 and was a prominent citizen of Troy Township. Polit- ically, he was a Whig. He died in 1868 at the age of eighty-four years and the mother of Mrs. Niles passed away in 1851; she was born in Bristol, Conn. Mr. Sprague was twice married and had three sons and five daughters by his first marriage, and live daughters by his second marriage. Mrs. Niles was born in Troy Township October 14, 1831. Her own children are Silas M., born in 1852, who married Alice Foote, of Pontiac and is living in Troy Township; Rhobie, who was born in 1856, is unmarried and at home, and Jennie who was born in 1858 and died in 1865.
While in Detroit Mr. Niles represented the Sec- ond Ward in the Common Council for four years. He is a Mason and connected with the Blue Lodge in Rochester. He is a believer in and supporter of the principles of the Democratic party.
P OWELL C. KILLA M. From the beginning agriculture has ranked among the most honored callings. Earth is the gracious mother that supplies the needs of mankind, and the farmer belongs to the priesthood that in- tervenes between the Giver of all, and needy humanity. To this honored class belongs the gen- tleman whose biography is here outlined and whose portrait is presented on the opposite page. As a worthy farmer and successful stock-raiser of Addison Township, he enjoys the esteem of a large circle of acquaintances and is the owner of a pleas-
ant estate which he has gained by his arduous exertions. At present he resides in the village of Leonard, where he has a fine large frame residence.
Wheatland Township, Monroe County, N. Y., was the native place of Mr. Killam, and the date of his birth May 7, 1819. Ilis father, Charles Killam, was a native of Pike County, Pa., and located in Monroe County, N. Y., in 1811, but sold his farm several years before his death and lived retired. At the time of his decease in 1859 he had reached the age of seventy-two years. He was a veteran in the War of 1812, and traced his ancestry to Scot- land. Ilis wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Bingham, was a Pennsylvania woman and sur- vived to reach the great age of ninety-two years. Five of the nine children born to Charles and Sarah Killam are still living, and of these our subject is the sixth in order of birth.
After availing himself of the common district schools, young Killam attended for three terms the academy at Wheatland. In 1843 he started West, and locating in Addison Township made his home on land which had been entered by his father in 1835. Some of it was in Macomb County and it was partly improved. Ile found deer and bears abundant, and he killed a bear which was crossing the field in which he was plowing. The Tuckatoe tribe of Indians still lived in the township.
The marriage of our subject took place in 1848. His bride, Margaret Ferguson, was born in New York, and her parents came at an early day to this section. Four children, Jennie, Fred, Lucy and Nettie, have gathered about their fireside and have now gone out to form homes of their own. Jennie married George Waterberry, who lives in Romeo and edits the Romeo Observer; Fred lives with his family at Milford, Mich., and is clerking in a store; Lncy married John S. Brown ; John lives in Leon- ard and travels for J. F. Scibling & Co., manufac- turers of binders; Nettie is the wife of George Nettleton, who is general manager for McMillan & Co., iron manufacturers at Newbury, Mich.
Mr. Killam is a Democrat in his political prefer- ences. His splendid property of sixteen hundred aeres lies partly in Oakland County and partly in Macomb County .. In the fall of 1889 he erected a handsome house at Leonard, since which time he
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has made his home in that village. Ile has been en- gaged in various kinds of business and for some years has traded in wool and has handled agricul- tural machinery extensively. He was in company with A. P. Brewer of Saginaw for a number of years in the lumber business, and in connection with the same gentleman owned extensive property in Georgia. Ile also owned and operated a sawmill for several years. Together with P. W. Brewer he operated for eighteen years the watermill known as the Brewer and Killam mill. His principal prod- ucts on the farm have been in the line of wheat and wool, yet he has been an extensive stock-raiser.
AVID L. CAMPBELL. The patronymic borne by this gentleman is well known in this county, where a number of reputable citizens bear it. None are more worthy of consid- eration than he whose name introduces these para- graphis, as he is a reliable citizen, a man of upright character and one of the most careful farmers in Royal Oak Township. He occupies a farm of nine- ty-two acres on sections 26 and 27. where he has first-class buildings of various kinds, the chief be- ing a brick house, put up in 1879 at a cost of $3.000. Mr. Campbell is an apiarist, with thriving colonies of bees, from the care of which he gains pleasure as well as profit.
The birthplace of Mr. Campbell was a farm in Oxford Township, and the date of his arrival on the stage of human events, June 27, 1847. llis parents are Welcome and Mary Jane (Cheney ) Campbell, of whom mention is made elsewhere in this volume. Our subject remained with his father until 1870, receiving wages for two years. Ile then married and made his home on a farm of twenty-seven acres. which he had bought of his father. Ile lived there until 1879, when he built a residence on property he had purchased some time before in Royal Oak Township. This con- sisted of fifty-five acres on section 26, to which he added twenty acres in 1884. Hle has made this place his home for some time, continuing the im-
provement and surrounding himself with the com- forts of modern farm life.
The marriage rites between Mr. Campbell and Miss Julia II. Benjamin were solemnized at the bride's home. March 10, 1870. Her parents are Johu and Ruth (Warner) Benjamin, natives of New York, who are mentioned at greater length in the sketch of John Benjamin, elsewhere in this volume. The children born of the happy union are six in number. Levi W. died in infancy ; Charles B., J. William and Ruth A. cheer their pa- rents by their companionship; Welcome S. died when five years old; John David, a lad of nine years, adds to the enjoyment of the household.
Mr. Campbell is a stanch Republican and his first Presidential ballot was for U. S. Grant. He has been Justice of the Peace and in that capacity has worked for law and order. He and his estimable wife have good standing in the Methodist Episco- pal Church and he has been Steward and Trustee and Sunday-school Superintendent. He is a lib- eral contributor to church work and devotes time as well as means to the cause.
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