History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests / compiled from the official records of the county, the newspapers and data of personal interviews, under the editorial supervision of Thaddeus D. Seeley.

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

59

One lifts the holy cross and the sound of the mission bell echoes across
the quiet waters of the lakes along whose borders we encamp today.
The other opens his store of trinkets and traffics with the Indians for
his furs and peltry.
ADVENT OF THE PIONEER
"But nothing is accomplished towards the settlement and genuine
improvement of the country until the advent of the man who came with
the axe and the plow-the enlightened pioneer who came to subdue the
forest and to make a home-the man who came to stay.
"The first man who built a house within what is now Oakland county,
and cut an opening through which the sun might shine upon it, was
Alexander Graham. That was within what are now the corporate limits
of Rochester, in the township of Avon, and the house he built stood
about twenty rods southeasterly from the present 'stone store,' and east
of the present Main street. He brought with him his son, and with
them came Christopher Hartsough. They all 'came to stay.' That was
in 1817.
"Then in the next year, I818, came Col. Stephen Mack, Maj. Joseph
Todd, Deacon Orison Allen and William Lester, settling at and founding the town of Pontiac. The Grahams were also encouraged by the
settling in Avon, in I818, of Ira Roberts, George Postal, Daniel Bronson
and William Bronson.
"In I8I9 the Pontiac colony was enlarged by the coming of Calvin
Hotchkiss; and Major Oliver Williams bought and settled upon land
near Silver lake, Waterford, and built thereon the first barn properly
such, in the county. Avon was also gladdened in I8I9 by the immigration of Judge Daniel LeRoy, Dr. William Thompson (the widely famed
and eccentric 'Dr. Bill'), John Miller, Nathaniel Baldwin, John Meyers
and Amozi C. Trowbridge.
"In 1820 and 1821 the tide increased. Such well known settlers as
Judah Church, Abner Davis, Alex. Galloway, Joshua Terry, Judge
Steven Reeves, Capt. Hervey Parke, Enoch Hotchkiss, and Rufus Clark,
came to Pontiac and its vicinity, while Linus Cone, Daniel Fowler, Cyrus
A. Chipman, and Walter Sprague made Avon their home, and Troy was
settled in 1821 by Johnson Niles. 1822 found Almon Mack, Joseph
Morris, Asa Murray, Capt. Joseph Bancroft, Schuyler Hodges, and
Geo. W. Galloway residents of Pontiac, and S. V. R. Trowbridge, Ebenezer Belding, George Abbey, Joshua Davis, P. J. and Jesse Perrin, Aaron
Webster, William and A. W. Wellman, Ira Jennings, and Silas Sprague
had followed Joshua Niles to Troy. Champlin Green, Gad Norton, William Burbank and Smith Weeks came into Avon, and more than half
the townships in the county had by this time one or more families.
"From this date population increased rapidly. In 1824 Nathan and
John Power, David Smith, Geo. W. Collins and other representatives
of the denomination of Friends, or 'Quakers,' most excellent and highly
intelligent people, made important and substantial beginnings in Farmington.
"Your present speaker (John M. Norton) came with his parents to