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

life, that the divine love within us seems spread out so thin that it is
sometimes difficult to find it at all. The old song so remarkable for its
doleful pathos, "When shall we three meet again?" could hardly have
been written in an age of railways, as the three would scarcely care
whether they met again or not, as they would meet some other three
the next day or the next hour. Nor do I think that the highly drawn
character of Jennie Deans, in her lonely pilgrimage on foot from Edinburgh to London in behalf of her sister, who was in extremity, as portrayed in Sir Walter Scott's charming romance "The Heart of MidLothian," could have been given us in an age like this. Think of the
devoted Jennie taking her seat in a railway car with her bundle in her
lap, surrounded by the rush and clatter of moving humanity at the
present day, and being whirled over the distance in three or four hours'
time. All the poetry and adventure would be lost, and poor Jennie's
heart could hardly have been attuned to the pitch necessary to the successful prosecution of her mission.
We might pursue indefinitely the array of contrasts between the
things of long ago and the now, with reflections upon the changed state
of affairs, but in addressing a local society of pioneers there seems a
propriety in discoursing of things more local in their character.
There needs no apology on my part for a reference to my own family. Personal history forms the very essence of our pioneer annals, and
this personal history can only be supplied (in most cases at least), by
the relatives of the subjects themselves.
"GRANNY" MCCRACKEN
There are many still living in the county who will remember my
grandmother, who was familiarly known as Granny McCracken. Although she died when I was less than six years old, I.remember her
very well, and many incidents associated with her. I have always had
her in mind as a little old Scotch woman, short, but of sturdy frame.
Her lineage, however, so far as I am able to trace it, gives but a small
percent of direct Scottish blood. Her family name was Hutchinson,
one of the regicide judges who condemned King Charles to the block.
The family were, at that time, of quality and some antiquity in England.
Although Colonel Hutchinson was included in the act of amnesty after
the restoration, he afterwards fell under suspicion, was arrested and
died in prison. Some of his descendants, either from political or other
causes, went to Ireland, and it is from thence that this branch of the
family is immediately. derived, through Thomas Hutchinson, my great
grandfather, who came to this country prior to I740, and settled and
married in Philadelphia, where my grandmother was born.
The old residents who remember Granny McCracken will be impressed the more especially by her bright, quick mind, and her strong
physical powers. To go back a little as illustrative of these traits, it
may be remarked that during the War of the Revolution, being a resident of Pennsylvania, she was an active patriot, being on confidential
terms with General Washington and other leading officers of the army,
and not infrequently acting as a bearer of important intelligence. She