Portrait and biographical album of Oakland County, Michigan, containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, Part 50

Author:
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman bros.
Number of Pages: 980

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 50

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Catherine Van Horn, the mother of our subject, was born in Greene County, N. Y. She was the mother of eight children of whom six grew to ma- turity. . They were : Betsey, Hannah, Martha, Clarissa, Sylvester E. and John W. Their mother passed away when seventy-six years old, having been an earnest and active member of the Presby- terian Church for many years. Our subject came to Oakland County from New York in 1836 when he was twenty-two years of age. Ile lived with his father for four years and then bought eighty acres of his present farm and began to improve it.

The marriage of our subject took place in 1841. Ilis bride was Anna Moore, who was born in New .Jersey, December 20, 1820. six children have crowned this union, namely : Julius, who married Anna Dickinson and has a farm in this township; Sarah is deceased; Alice J. married Edmund Fos- ter, a farmer in this township; George is deceased; Elizabeth married George Curtis, a farmer in Sag- inaw County; Howard married Minnic Newell and manages his father's farm. Mrs. Anderson died May 9, 1885. She was an active member of the Presbyterian Church for many years and her hus-

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band an Elder in that church and has served as Superintendent of the Sunday-school. His political convictions have been with the Whig and the Re- publican party, and he cast his first ballot for Wil- liam Henry Harrison. He has held the offices of Highway Commissioner and Justice of the Peace and was one of the organizers of Springfield Township. He has two hundred and fifty-six acres of fine land and a capacious and commodious residence. He now rents his farm to his son and makes his home with him. Although somewhat retired from active life he is still a prominent man in the township.

2 ATHANIEL J. MILLERD. This gentle- man has been a resident of Avon Town- ship during the greater part of his life, al- though he was born in Cayuga County, N. Y. Feb- rnary 12, 1820. His parents were Nathaniel and Sarah B. (Taylor) Millerd, natives of New York and Massachusetts respectively, and the father was born in 1780. He died October 6, 1865, having thus passed the eighty-fifth milestone on life's journey. Mrs. Millerd passed away October 1, 1863. They had come to this State in May 1823, and located in Troy, but the next year removed to Avon Town- ship. The husband was a carpenter until late in life, when he became a farmer. After his removal to this State he built a grist and saw mill on Stony Creek, which was one of the pioneer mills of this section. The Pontiac Mill was built the same sea- son. Mr. Millerd put up many houses in the vicinity and in 1846 built a flouring mill which is now the woolen mill on Stony creek, now operated by Mr. P. Ewell. The family included nine children, four of whom survive-Orestus, living in Avon Town- ship; Charies, a resident of Arkansas; and Nathan- iel J. and Mrs. S. J. Walker, twins, the latter of whom resides in Brown County, S. D.

Mr. Millerd, the subject of this sketch, was rear- ed upon a farm and early learned how to carry on agricultural work. He pursued his studies in the public school and in 1838 attended what was then called the University at Pontiac-an institution subsequently merged into the State University.

He has pursued an industrious and strictly honorable course in life, and taken an active interest in move- ments that were for the elevation of society and the promulgation of true principles moral or relig- ious. He is a prohibitionist from principle and takes an active part in temperance work. He is a member of the Baptist Church, with which he united January 10, 1841, and for thirty-five years he has held the office of Deacon. Faithful to the vows he made and earnest in his desire for the good of others, he takes a leading part in the work that is carried on by the organization.

For more than forty years Mr. Millerd enjoyed the closest sympathy of a noble woman who became his wife May 4, 1848. She bore the maiden name of Almeda M. Vail, was born in Riga, Monroe County, N. Y., and was a danghter of Martin Vail, who brought his family to this State in 1838. She became a well educated woman and began teaching at the early age of fourteen years, continuing in that occupation until her marriage, a few years later. lfer mental culture did not eease when she began her professional work but was continued, and her spiritual nature was developed from year to year. She passed away May 16, 1890, leaving to her friends the record of a life the influence of which cannot be estimated. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Millerd was a childless one but their home was never without the presence of the young as they reared several children from other families.

The Rev. Frank Barnett, a missionary in Mon- tana, upon the occasion of Mrs. Millerd's death wrote as follows: "When the writer left Ogden to attend the dedication of the Baptist Church in Missoula, he caught up the last Christian Herald to read on the train. Among the first things that ar- rested my eye was the announcement of the death of Mrs. Almeda Millerd, wife of Deacon N. J. Millard of Stony Creek, Mich. It was as though I had heard of the death of a mother, for mother indeed has she been in spiritual matters. There came back to me with a flood of feeling, remembrances of the past, when with her hand upon my shoulder, while the tears rested on her cheek, she asked me with the tenderness and pathos of a Savior's love, to give my heart to the Lord. How could I resent such gentle and mighty earnestness. Under her pursna-

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sion I yielded to her Lord and mine. In after years, with other young people, I sang in the choir and often looked down upon her intellectual face as she listened to the words of life. Some times I wondered at the tears that coursed down her cheeks at what I felt was only an ordinary service. But her great nature was a fountain of spiritual earnest- ness. To speak of Zion was to stir her heart to its depths.

It was my good fortune to live in Mrs. Millerd's home for two years during the restless, turbulent and doubting period of life which comes to most young men. Never ean I forget the assurance and rest that came to my troubled heart as I came under the influence of her strong nature and the restful- ness and devotion of that Christian home. Family worship was like the opening of the gates of heaven. Her spiritual fervor made her a tower of strength in the Church and her face was seen at nearly every service. She loved home mission work and often asked me if I did not think the Lord had some little church in the far West where he wanted me, and so to-day, from one of the mission fields of that far West, while she stands in the glorious presence of the Lord, I send this little testimonial of love of one of the Lord's chosen-a redeemed and noble woman."

AVID DICKIE. The pleasant home of this gentleman is located on section 17, West Bloomfield Township and the estate to the operation of which he gives his attention, consists of two hundred and forty aeres. For several years Mr. Dickie raised trotting horses and he is well posted regarding the merits of different breeds and every particular of their care. He is an ardent ad- mirer of horses and it is strange indeed if he has not good ones to drive. He is now paying little attention to horse breeding, but turning bis thought largely to the cultivation of fruit. He has twenty- five hundred peach, nine hundred apple, two thous- and pear, and hundred plum and one hundred cherry trees, and has seven acres devoted to grapes. Other small fruits are set out on the farm, and Mr. Dickie is working into a large trade in the products

of his trees and vines. His farm is one of the handsomest locations in Eastern Michigan, and from his orchard one can stand and count seven lakes in plain view of his farm.

Jolın and Janet ( Miller) Dickie, natives of Ayre- shire, Scotland, came to America in 1833, and set- tled in Dumfries, County Waterloo, Canada. The husband was a life-long farmer and was successful in tilling the soil, but never accumulated a great amount of property, as he spent his earnings for the good and comfort of his family, and worthy causes. He died in Canada but his widow came to Michigan and spent her last days in the home of her son David. Both belonged to the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, but in Canada Mr. Dickie united with the Christian Church. They had nine children, of whom our subject was the fourth in order of birth. Hfe was born in Canada February 26, 1839, and reared and educated in his native county.

David Dickie received a thorough common- school education. Hle remained with his father and gave him the benefit of his labors until he was eighteen years old and assisted in the care of his mother until he was twenty-eight years of age. In 1867 he removed with his mother, brothers and sisters to his present location, and afterward bought the place of the heirs. He had much of the care and responsibility of the home farm after his father's decease, and with the exception of a few months during his seventeenth year, he has been a a farmer from his youth up. That period was de- voted to the printer's trade at Ayr, Canada, but young Dickie did not like his employer's method of keeping him at other work and soon abandoned it.

September 11, 1867, Mr. Dickie and Miss Sarah A. White were united in marriage. The bride was born in West Bloomfield Township, May 29, 1847, and is a daughter of James and Eliza (Miller) White. She is an intelligent, energetic woman, who has been a valuable assistant to her husband in accomplishing his purpose to acquire a good home. The children born of this union are named respectively, Janet E., John J., Lilly M., Jane, Annie, Margaret, Mabel, Bertha and Maude. Mr. Diekie has held some of the minor town offices and and was faithful to the trust reposed in bim. Ile

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yours Very July William 26 Osmun

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is connected with the Patrons of Industry and po- litically is a Republican. He is a man well read and correspondingly well informed, and is an honest and reliable citizen.

R EV. WILLIAM H. OSMUN. There are living only a few of the men whom this gentleman found in Oakland County upon coming hither in April, 1836. During all these years he has witnessed many changes and has been one of the most useful men in his community, identifying himself with its most worthy enter- prises and giving his moral and substantial aid to whatever was calculated to the promotion of its best interests. He is a man whose opinions are thoroughly respected and whose integrity has been maintained unquestioned during the changes of a long and useful life. His occupation has been that of a farmer and minister, in both of which he has been successful, securing a pleasant home for his declining years, and being instrumental in enlarg- ing the membership and usefulness of the church. He now resides in Pontiac, in the eastern part of the city.

In Tompkins County, N. Y., the Rev. Mr. Osmun was born June 18, 1816. Ilis father, Jolin Osmun, was born in Orange County, N. Y., in 1771, and died in 1845, in the Empire State where he spent his entire life. He was of English descent and a farmer by occupation. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Mary Linderman, and was of Holland extraction. She also was born in Orange County, N. Y., and survived her husband several years, dying in 1851. She and her worthy husband were the progenitors of a numerous race, as she was the mother of thirteen children, twelve of whom lived to maturity, and most of them had families of their own, two of the daughters having families of fourteen children, each of whom lived to years of maturity. Of the twelve children only two now survive, our subject and one sister.

Rev. William H. Osmun was reared a farmer in Tompkins County, N. Y., and attended the common schools in the winter. He remained with his par-

ents until he was twenty-one years old. In the month of April 1836, he came to Oakland County and began farming, taking up one hundred and sixty acres of fine land, and building a comfortable log house 20x24 feet in dimensions. It was not elegantly furnished for during the first six years he had but one chair and his first bedstead boasted but one leg. There was no carpet on the floor and when he received a letter from the East, he would sometimes have to wait a week or two to raise the twenty-five cents necessary to pay its postage. Money was searce and everything was high. Corn was $2 per bushel, and oats were twelve shillings per bushel which amounted to $1.50. In a few years matters were more comfortable. After liv- ing here for ten years he sold two of his three farms, one of which comprised three hundred acres in the town of Orion, this county. The latter was a new farm, which he cleared and where he carried on general farming. He also had there a sawmill run by water power and manufactured pine lumber. After disposing of his interests here he returned to the Empire State, and for twenty-two years was a resident of Tompkins County.

Upon Mr. Osmun's return to New York he set- tled up the estate of his father who had recently died and located his family there for a permanent residence. They continued there for nearly twenty- two years, but in 1867 he was again taken with the Western fever and removed with his family to Oakland County, Mich., pureliasing his present farm which is now within the city limits of Pon- tiac. It comprises eighty acres of finely improved and excellent land, embellished with all modern improvements, including barns and outbuildings. He has done much pioneer work and since his last settlement in this State has engaged largely in preaching in the Free Methodist Church.

On January 11, 1837, the Rev. William H. Osmun and Miss Mary Ann Linderman, were united in marriage. The bride was the daughter of John and Martha (Wood) Linderman, of Tompkins County, N. Y. Mr. Osmun and his estimable wife are the parents of six children, namely : Abram, born November 7, 1837, died February 25. 1811; William H., born October 27, 1841; Martha J., born January 27, 1845, is the wife of W. Il. Young

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of Waterford Township; Charles W., born April 29, 1848, lives in Grand Rapids; May E., born June 27, 1850, married Lewis Young of Pontiac ; and Carrie B., born May 25, 1862, is the wife of ('harles Bartlett.

Mr. Osmun served a number of years as Consta- ble in this county. Ile was formerly an old line Whig until the organization of the Republican party, when he joined the ranks of those who worked for the election of John C. Fremont and later for Abraham Lincoln. He is now a stanch Prohibitionist. He began preaching soon after his conversion when he was thirty-five years old, and he preaches almost every Sunday when he feels able. Ile has never used tobacco in any form and now in his seventy-fourth year is enjoying a hale and hearty old age, a fact which will be apparent to the reader by a glance at his portrait on another page. Ile began life on very limited means and has acquired a handsome property to enjoy in his later years.

ENRY M. JACKSON, a well-known black- smith of Pontiac, Oakland County, has built up a good business and established his reputation as a thorough workman and reliable man. Ile employs four or five men and gives careful oversight to all that is done at black- smithing and horse-shoeing in his shop, being him- self a practical workman and well qualified to note any deficiency on the part of his employes. His career has been characterized by energy, industry and honesty, and success has crowned his under- takings, and his investments have proved judieions. Beginning with limited means he is now the owner of three shops and grounds, and five other lots and three dwellings in Pontiac. His own residence is a large frame house of modern architecture, has attractive surroundings, and is furnished taste- fully.

Mr. Jackson is of English parentage, his father having been born in Derbyshire January 10, 1806, and his mother in Lincolnshire in 1815. The latter

bore the maiden name of Mary Buff, and was a daughter of Jonathan Buff. Her marriage to John Jackson took place in Akron, Ohio, whither he had gone in early life. Mr. Jackson was a wagon- maker, but soon after his marriage came to Macomb County, this State, and engaged in general farming and stock-raising. After some years he removed to Oakland County and located on the farm near the city of Pontiac. Here he is still living, now in his eighty-sixth year. His wife passed away Octo- ber 22, 1883. Their family consisted of nine children, seven of whom lived to maturity. Two sons gave their lives for their country, George dying in Andersonville Prison and Thomas being shot dead in a skirmish near Culpeper. William A. was also a soldier but survived the horrors of war.

The gentleman whose name introduces these paragraphs was born in Macomb County, this State, December 22, 1840. He obtained his education in the common schools, devoting his time chiefly to study until he was fourteen years old. After that he worked on the farm some three years, then came to Pontiac and learned the trade of a blacksmith with Seth Watson, whom he served as an appren- tice for three years. He remained with Mr. Watson a year longer, then went to England to visit his unele Thomas Jackson, whose home was in Man- chester. He remained abroad eight months and during the time traveled over England, Ireland and the Isle of Man. Ile arrived at his home in Pontiac in December, 1865, and soon opened a blacksmith shop in which he has continued business ever since. llis means were exceedingly limited when he began work, but he secured a good run of custom, was frngal in his expenditures and was able to add to his business wagon and carriage making which he carried on successfully seven years. He then dropped that branch of business and gave his atten - tion exclusively to blacksmithing and horse shoe- ing.

April 29, 1875. was the date of an interesting ceremony which transformed Miss Helen Skarrett into Mrs. H. M. Jackson. The bride was reared in White Lake Townshipand is a daughter of Richard and Catherine Skarrett who were born in Ireland. The union has been blessed by the birth of three

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sons-Thomas W., John H, and Richard. They are being given the best educational advantages the place affords, and every effort is being made to en- courage their aspirations for profound knowledge and thorough preparation for the battle of life. Mr. Jackson and his estimable wife are earnest Christians, belonging to the Methodist Episcopal Church, to the work of which they contribute liberally of their means, and in which Mr. Jackson is Steward. Politically, he is a stanch Prohibition- ist. His reputation is unexcelled and husband and wife count their friends by the score.

b ENRY MOORE. The estate of this gen- tleman consists of a tract of land on section 34, Milford Township, and a residence property in the village valued at $2,000. The outlying land constitutes a splendid farm, as the soil is fertile, has been thoroughly cleared, not only of trees but of stumps and stones, and supplied with various buildings of a substantial nature. The owner of this fine property carries on mixed farm- ing, believing that it Is wise to divide his attention between grain and stock. He has two hundred and twenty acres under the plow and his farm in- cludes forty-one acres additional. By his personal efforts one hundred acres were improved and it was no uncommon thing for him to work from 4 A. M. until midnight.

The grandfather of our subject was one of the leading farmers of Herkimer County, N. Y. in his day. Ilis son Henry was born there in 1796, adopted the father's occupation and remained in his native State until the fall of 1883. He had married Sarah Wilsey, who was born in the same county as himself, but in the year 1800, and whose father, James Wilsey, fought seven years during the Revolution. Mr. Wilsey came to this State with his daughter and his last sickness, which was also his first one, was suffered in Milford Township. Mr. and Mrs. Moore, upon leaving their native State, came hither and located on section 26, where neighbors were few and the timber was almost solid. They worked land in West Bloomfield and

Franklin Township on shares, operating twelve hundred and eighty acres. Mr. Moore's first real estate here was an eighty-acre tract, the patent of which was signed by President Andrew Jackson, but before his death he had one hundred and twenty acres already improved. It had taken hard work to accomplish this result as he died in 1841. Mrs. Moore survived until 1878. Mr. Moore was As- sessor and Coustable in New York and here he was a prominent member of the School Board and a pleader of cases in the early Justices courts. He was a generous-hearted man, ready at all times to aid his neighbors and friends. The living mem- bers of the family are-John, Mrs. Esther Maltby, Mrs. Susannah Nicholson, Henry, Richard, Mrs. Elizabeth Harlow and Mrs. Sarah Bailey.

Henry Moore was born in Ilerkimer County, N. Y., April 27, 1834, and was ten years old when he came to this State. His first attendance at school was in this section and his opportunities in that direction were very limited, as be was his father's mainstay until the latter's death. He did a great deal of work in his youth and when but twenty years old began life for himself. In the fall of 1852 he went to California by the Panama route and for four years worked in the mines in Sierra County. He had many rough experiences but was successful in mining and brought back to this State in 1856 quite a sum of money. He sold the old homestead and bought his present farm thirty-five years ago, and has put up all the buildings to be seen upon it.

In September, 1856, Mr. Moore was married to Miss Minerva Fowler, whose acquaintance he had made by correspondence. The wedding occurred while he was on his way home from the coast and was solemnized at her bome in Greene County, N. Y. She was born there April 21, 1832, acquired an excellent education, completing her studies in the seminary at Prattsville, and then engaged in teach- ing. She is one of the six surviving children of Silas and Hannah (McClain) Fowler, who were born in Connecticut and New York respectively. Mr. and Mrs. Fowler were married in Greene County, N. Y., and spent their lives there, he dying in 1863 at the age of seventy-two and she in 1884 at the age of ninety-four years. Mr. Fowler owned

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the Kingston turnpike and six hundred acres of land. He was a Democrat in politics. Hle and his wife belonged to the Presbyterian Church and he was a Deacon for many years.

Mr. and Mrs. Moore have had eight children and four are now living : Julia E. was born July 29, 1860, and is now the wife of Henry Gates and liv- ing in Ionia County; she was graduated from the Milford High School and studied music, in which she became proficient. She has taught the science to some extent. Henrietta was born March 24, 1863, married Edward Knight and now lives in Detroit; Charles was born October 28, 1865, and James Roy, May 12, 1868. All were well edu- cated, having taken the higher studies in the Mil- ford High School. Mr. and Mrs. Moore have two grandchildren, each of their daughters being the parent of one child. Mrs. Moore is a lincal descendant of Charles McClain, a Scotchman of liberal education and great wealth, who was a mem- ber of the King's Court and was a minister of the English Crown in New York City.

For thirty- five years Mrs. Moore has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and she has always taken as active a part in Church and Sunday-school work as her home duties would admit of. She has taught in the Sunday-school for years. She is not only an earnest Christian and a lady of cultured mind, but she is friendly in dis- position and pleasing in manner. Mr. Moore has always taken an interest in political matters and is an ardent Republican. He has served his fellow- men as Road Overseer and member of the School Board and has advanced their interests very ma- terially.

ASHINGTON GAY ELLIOTT, M. D., is a prominent citizen and well-known physi- cian of Pontiac. He was born in Sharon, Litchfield County, Conn., September 24, 1824. He is a son of Charles Elliott, a native of New Lon- don, Conn., born in 1782, who was a jat manufac- turer and furrier; his hats were largely sold in the Southern and Mexican markets. Ilis father was a

captain on a sailing packet plying between New York City and New London. The mother Marcia, daughter of Daniel Gay, was born in 1788. Mr. Elliott and family removed in 1837 to Seneca Falls, N. Y., and in the spring of 1838 came to Pontiac, Mich., and finally located in Bloomfield Township. The father of our subject died in Pontiac in 1867, in the eighty-third year of his age and his devoted wife followed him to the other world twelve days later, both dying of pneumonia.

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Portrait and biographical album of Oakland County, Michigan, containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county, Part 50

Author: Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago : Chapman bros. Number of Pages: 980

Author:
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman bros.
Number of Pages: 980