History of Oakland County, Michigan.

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

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commencement of the war in the Second Michigan Infantry for three months.
After this, on the further call for more men, James enlisted in Company C, First
Michigan Cavalry, where he held the position of orderly sergeant. He was
wounded at Winchester, receiving a gunshot wound in the head, causing him to
be an inmate of a hospital for three months. Josiah re-enlisted in the Second
Michigan Infantry, remaining with them during the war, participating in many of
the numerous engagements of that celebrated regiment; was taken prisoner at

Knoxville, Tennessee; was in captivity fourteen months; escaped from the cars,
remaining at large four weeks; was then recaptured and taken to Columbia, South
Carolina, from thence to Florence, Alabama, where he escaped a second time, and,
after wandering five weeks in an enemy's territory, he again met his old companions, the boys in blue, in Tennessee. Willis Smith, the husband of the eldest
daughter, Eliza A., was also a soldier,-a member of the Fifth Michigan Cavalry,
and wears honorable scars attained in the war of the Rebellion.

If -*

IN D E P E NDENCE TOW:NS-IIIP.

THE town 4 north, range 9 east, of the United States surveys, received its
local name at the suggestion of Joseph Van Syckle, who came from the town of
Independence, in New Jersey, and wished this name bestowed upon the town of
his new home in honor of the old. It is a full congressional township, having
an area of twenty-three thousand and forty acres. The surface is somewhat diversified, being in general hilly in the northwest and centre, and level in the southeast. The famous Sashabaw plains are in this region, extending north and south
nearly three miles, and east and west about two and a half miles. Smaller plains
are found in the northern and western parts of the township, and the greater portion of the elevated lands is comparatively level. There are several well-defined
local elevations. Pine Knob, on the northwest quarter of section 23, is about a
hundred feet in height above the general level, and covers about sixty acres,
much of which is tillable. There are also hills of considerable magnitude on sections 29 and 32, as well as on sections 17 and 20. The general slope of the
country is south and west, with very fine natural drainage, afforded by the Clinton
river and its tributary streams. There is a series of small lakes, having a general
southwesterly course, extending from the northeast corner of section 3 to the
middle of section 20, when it assumes a southerly course. The main branch of
the Clinton river is the outlet of these lakes, and has the course indicated until it
reaches the town-line, alone which it deflects eastwardly. It has a branch from
the west, entering the town at the middle of section 19; thence flows southeast
through Deer lake to a confluence with the main branch on section 29. The
Sashabaw creek rises on section 25, and flows west and south to the eastern part
of section 35, where it takes an easterly course. The most important lakes are
Park's, Deer, and Green, in the southwestern part of the town, and in connection
with the river produce water-power, which is well improved. Other lakes are
in the northeast, the largest being Bailey lake, on sections 3 and 10, whose area
is about one hundred acres. Round lake, on section 2, is nearly circular in form,
without visible inlet or outlet. There is considerable marsh surface in the neighborhood of these lakes, and nearly all the lakes in the township are bordered by
swamp surface. Nevertheless the proportion of waste land is comparatively
small, and much of it has been redeemed by artificial drainage.
Nearly the entire area of this township was originally timbered, chiefly with
oak, splendid forests of this wood yet existing in the northwestern part of the
township. In sections 3, 25, and 29 were fine bodies of pine, and this timber is
still found in limited quantities in those localities and in other portions of the
township. The soil generally is fertile, although it is more productive in some
localities than in others. On the plains especially it is very readily cultivated,
and yields fine returns. The uplands of the township are noted as a fine wheatproducing region. The farm improvements of the township are excellent, indicating an intelligent, industrious class of citizens.
FIRST LAND ENTRIES.
To Alpheus Williams belongs the credit of making the frst land purchase in
the township. The Williams family was then living in Waterford township, and
this entry, made October 10, 1823, was, perhaps, not with a view of settlement.
John W. Beardslee made the next entry, in 1826, on the Sashabaw plains, and
this was the first purchase settled by the original owner. He moved on to his
land five years later. In 1831 a number of purchases were made, and mostly by
actual settlers,-by Melvin Dorr, Butler Holcomb, Thomas Beardslee, and others.
THE FIRST WHITE SETTLERS
had come the year before, in 1830, and squatted on section 20, without making
more than a claim to the land. Linus Jacox, a native of the State of New York,
first broke the stillness of the forest by hewing down trees for a home in its

wilds. He built a cedar-pole shanty on the southwest quarter of that section,
roofing it with boards and finishing it in a rude manner. He spaded up some
ground for a garden, and planted potatoes among the trees. In 1831 he sold his
claim and improvements to Butler Holcomb for fifty dollars. He now located on
a tract of land in the southwestern part of the town, where he lived several years.
James Cronk came with Mr. Jacox, or soon after, and settled near him, on section
21. He did not purchase land, and soon sold what interests he had there to
Butler Holcomb.
In the summer of 1831, Marvin Greenwood and Roswell Holcomb moved into
the cedar-log house on section 20, and commenced improving for Butler Holcomb,
clearing ten acres and seeding it with wheat that fall. This was the first substantial improvement made in that part of the town.
Mention has been made of the land purchased by J.- W. Beardslee on the Sashabaw plains, in 1826. In the summer of 1831, Mr. Beardslee worked on this
land, cutting hay on the marsh bordering the creek, and made other preparations
for moving that fall. In October, J. W. Beardslee and family, Thomas Beardslee
and family, and Marcus Riker moved to this locality, and built a shanty on J. W.
Beardslee's land, on section 35, near the Sashabaw creek, which they occupied as
soon as finished, and in which J. W. Beardslee lived all winter. The Beardslees
were natives of Sussex county, New Jersey, and Riker of Chemung county, New
York. The latter located on section 26, where he lived many years, on the farm
now owned by D. Cook. He then become a resident of Pontiac. John W.
Beardslee improved his land to its present condition, and still resides there, near
the spot where his pioneer shanty was built. Thomas Beardslee located in the
northern part of section 26, where he built a log house eighteen feet square in
the early part of the winter, employing laborers to raise it from Dayton plains.
At that time this was the best building in the township, and was the first one
really entitled to be called a house. The next spring he cleared considerable land,
and sowed wheat in the fall of 1832. This was the beginning of the settlement
of the fertile plains, which were soon after dotted over with the humble homes of
the hardy pioneers. Thomas Beardslee had a family of half a dozen children
when he moved into the county. Of these, a son, Ebenezer T., was then ten
years old. He grew to manhood on his father's place, and now resides on the
old homestead.
In 1832 a number of immigrants were added to the Sashabaw settlement, William Stephens, from Sussex county, New Jersey, locating on section 25; Peter D.
Voorheis, from New Jersey, but had lived in New York for several years, located
on the plains, on section 36; William and John Beardslee, also natives of New
Jersey, settled on section 24; and Archibald Ayers, from Sussex county, New
Jersey, on section 27. Bildad Phillips, and his nephew, Bine Bathrick, natives
of New York, come into the country, with a view of purchasing land, in the fall
of 1832. They stopped at Thomas Beardslee's, and took one of his little boys, a
lad about eight years old, with him, to show a certain piece of land which had
been recommended to them. Leaving the lad at an old camp, they went to look
at the land, but, on desiring to return, found that they were disagreed as to the
direction which would lead them back to the camp, one claiming exactly the opposite of the other as right. Finally, Bathrick yielded to the older judgment of
Phillips, and they started out. Mile after mile was traveled only to find, if possible, that the forest was more dense than any they had yet seen, while not a
trace of the camp could be discovered. Alarmed for the safety of the boy, who
they feared would wander from the camp if they did not return by evening, they
redoubled their efforts to reach him. It soon became apparent to them that they
were lost, and that they did not have the remotest idea of the location of the
camp. Thus they wandered on, until they finally reached the house of a settler,
with not a hope of finding the boy that night. The lad had meanwhile become