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

183

previous day made its report, and the trial of the celebrated Tulley casewas about to commence. The court, however, paused long enough to
dedicate what was then regarded as their magnificent new court house.
The principal address on that occasion was made by that skilled examiner
and eloquent advocate, Michael E. Crofoot, then at or near the zenith of
his fame. Extracts from the speech delivered at that time have already
been given.
Perhaps I cannot do better than to quote from my address delivered
as a farewell to the court house of I858, the words being spoken in 1904:
"When we now contemplate this old building with its cracked walls and
ceilings, its cramped and crowded offices and its dearth of modern conveniences, we can hardly realize the genuine pride and satisfaction with
which the bar of this county then regarded this newly completed building. As we now look about us and are reminded of its numerous inconveniences and its general unfitness and inadequacy and observe its long,
crooked stove pipes and ancient, dilapidated and uncouth condition, we
realize the fitness of the appellation given it by Captain Howard, when he
recently dubbed it the 'Lime Kiln Club.' This court room certainly does
have a striking resemblance to the hall in which M. Quad's famous Lime
Kiln Club held its nocturnal meetings.
"Such thoughts, however, for those of us who have practiced here
for over a quarter of a century, are quickly followed by memories that
are akin to the pathetic. We are startled and rendered contemplative,
when we recall that not a single lawyer who practiced at this bar when
this building was first dedicated is now alive. Many months have passed
since the last of them, our genial friend, Judge Ten Eyck, finally shut
up his law books, closed his accounts and peacefully bid us an everlasting farewell.
"There are memories and memories, and thoughts and thoughtssome of them 'that lie too deep for tears'-that linger around this old
court room. We shall leave it with feelings that are akin to those that
tinge with sadness the joy the head of a family feels when he leaves the
old house for the new-the old house in which, in his more impressionable years, he has shared with his good wife, in the companionship of
his family, so many joys and so many sorrows.
"Old and out of date as this court house now is, it is a palace when
compared with its predecessors.
"The first settlement within the county of Oakland was made by
James Graham in the present township of Avon in March, I817. The
next settlements were made at this city, in the fall of I818 under the
auspices of the Pontiac company, of which Stephen Mack was then the
manager.
"John Jones, a pioneer of Bloomfield, is claimed to have cleared the
primeval forest from the site of the present court house. He is recorded
as having done it at the moderate wages of fifty cents per day.
"The predecessor of this court held its first term of court in this city
in an old log building which stood near the present Rose House. in the
year I820. Judge Crofoot said in his speech dedicating this building that
that court house was without door, floor or chimney.
"Soon thereafter, in 1823 or 1824, a new court house and jail com