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.

88

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

musket and went to Boston where he was enlisted as a soldier in the
Revolutionary war, and served till its close. He spent the winter at
Valley Forge with Washington, and one night he and the general went
on a reconnoitering expedition, returning at the break of day with sufficient information to make the American army better prepared to meet
the enemy when it came. At the end of the war he was married in a
church at Providence, Rhode Island, to Olive Baker. Six children were
born to them-Seth B., Rhoda, Mary, Sarah, Philinda and Elias. They
moved to Utica, N. Y., where she died, and in 1838 he came with his
son, Seth B., to Holly, Michigan, on March 31, 1853, he died at the home
of this same son at Genesee and was buried in Oak Hill cemetery, two
miles northwest of Holly, Michigan. He was a pensioner.
SAMUEL NILES
Samuel Niles was born in Rhode Island, and was a private under
General Green in the War of the Revolution and was wounded in an action in his native state. He came to Michigan in 1835 and took up his
residence with his son Johnson Niles, the first settler in the township of
Troy, and remained here until his death in July, 1838. Buried in Crook's
cemetery, Troy, Oakland county, Michigan. His wife, Smellage Sisson,
died in 1835; m. 2nd, Lucy Roberts.
SILAS SPRAGUE
Silas Sprague was another early settler and soldier who is buried in
the Crooks cemetery at Troy, this county. He was born February I8,
1762, in Connecticut, coming to Michigan in 1824, with his son Silas;
died March 8, 1841, in Troy, Michigan. His wife, Polly Leonard, was
born October I6, 1763; died October 5, 1813, in New York. Their children were: (I.) Silas, b. Oct. I6, 1785, Middlebury, Conn.; d. July 2,
I868, Troy, Mich.; m. Nov. 12, I807, Sarah Crofoot; m. 2nd, 1824,
Amanda Bostwick; m. 3rd, 1855, Eunice Fuller.
(II.) Polly, b. Mar. 9, 1790.
(III.) Charles, b. Dec. 13, I79I, Chenango Co., N. Y.; d. Nov. 30,
I871.
(IV.) Thomas, b. Apr. 6, I794, Chenango Co., N. Y.; d. Apr. I866.
(V.) Orrin, b. Aug. 20, 1796; d. June 8, I874, Troy.
(VI.) Barnabas, b. Mar. 20, 1799; d. Sept. 30, I865.
(VII.) John, b. July 4, I80I; d. Sept. 29, I866, Troy, Mich.
(VIII.) Leonard, b. Aug. 29, 1804; Broome Co., N. Y.; d. July 24,
I88o, Pontiac, Mich.
"Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors" gives his service as follows:
Certificate dated May 31, 1780; signed by Truman Wheeler, muster
master of Berkshire county, stating that in the fore part of July, 1779,
he had mustered said Sprague and others to serve in the Continental
army for the term of nine months, to the credit of the town of Great
Barrington; also descriptive list of men raised in Berkshire county to
serve in the Continental army for the term of nine months to Capt. Goodrich's company, Col. Ashley's regiment; age seventeen years; stature five