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.

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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

Avon in the spring of 1824, aged then only four years, and has ever
since resided in the county. M3y mother died the next year, and my
father in June, 1832, when I was but twelve years old. My own health
and strength were my only resources. These I used as best I could,
and with such degree of success as has enabled me comfortably to provide for and educate my family, with a sufficiency remaining for the
declining years of myself and of her who has been through all so faithful an helpmate. The latch-string of our home is out today, as it was
in the early days, and we shall always take pleasure, not only in entertaining those of our friends of both this and the former generation, but
also in showing them the evidence that industry, integrity, and 'pluck'
are sufficient for success in this free and fertile country. As I review
the long list of my acquaintance, my observation teaches me that an
inherited fortune is more often a curse than a blessing, and leads more
frequently to ruin than to the substantial success and happiness-not to
mention the usefulness-of its possessor.
"More and more rapidly the incoming settlers followed each other
into the country, until, by 1830, Oakland county was practically redeemed
to civilization. Pontiac was by this time a center of trade for all the
region lying north and northwest of it as far as the Saginaws, and during the close of navigation even to the mouth of the Saginaw river.
Oakland county had five thousand inhabitants in I830, and Pontiac was
known commercially throughout the eastern states.
"Until about this period the roads between Detroit and Pontiac, and
especially between Detroit and Royal Oak ('Mother Handsome's'), were
indescribably bad, often absolutely impassible for anything except ox
sleds, mud carts, and similar conveyances. For this reason the settlers
of Avon and Troy made their journeys to and from Detroit quite as
often as otherwise via Mt. Clemens, that is, by team to Mt. Clemens,
and thence by boat down Clinton river to Lake St. Clair, thence through
that lake and Detroit river to Detroit.
RAILROAD AS A FUN MAKER
"As an evidence of the growing commercial importance of the capital, the Detroit and Pontiac Railroad was chartered by the legislature of
I830, and, although this immediate enterprise failed, it was followed in
1834 by the incorporation of the company which actually built and operated the road. As a fun-maker, the old Detroit and Pontiac Railroad
Company probably surpassed any comic minstrels ever organized. Its
directors were inveterate practical jokers and fun lovers, and if Mark
Twain would write the true antics of these 'innocents at home,' stating
only facts, the work would eclipse all the fiction of his 'Innocents Abroad.'
"Improvements, in all the meaning of the term, characterized the
county henceforward; splendid farms, fine residences, improved highways, enterprising towns, multiplied upon all hands, until it has now
become 'Old Oakland' and ranks as one of the finest counties in the
nation.