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.

380

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

vote for a successful presidential candidate; that was Abraham Lincoln, and he died February 22, 1861, just a few days before the inauguration.
"Of those personal traits which endeared him to those who knew
him best, perhaps I am not the one to speak; I suppose he had his
faults, though they are hidden from my sight by a mountain of love. I
will mention just one thing. Mrs. Captain Duncan, a Scotch lady,
once said to me 'Your father is the most perfect gentleman I have met
in America.' It was not outward polish to which she referred, but to
that innate unselfishness, combined with common sense, which makes
any man, as my father truly was, a gentleman.
"As I have been preparing this paper, many little incidents of the
past have been brought to mind. Of Mrs. Trowbridge, surrounded by
her little flock, and, as her busy needle flew in and out, repeating poems
learned in happy girlhood and affording pleasure in her still happier
wife and motherhood.
"Of Mrs. Goodsell, Lydia Smith then, and not more than ten or
twelve years old, riding through the storm. She had come with her
parents to visit some relatives near Pontiac who were sick, and finding
the case more serious than they expected, they concluded to stay all
night; but at home the sheep were out exposed to wolves-besides, a
storm was coming up. So Lydia mounted on a horse. 'Now,' said
her aunt, 'as soon as you get into the woods, put your foot over like a
boy, and ride as fast as you can.' I think it was a brave thing for a girl
to do, and no danger but every sheep in the flock was safely housed
before she rested.
"The Methodist hymns, too, borne on the midnight air, at the sound
of which people turned in the comfortable beds, and said to themselves,
'Oh, that is Doctor Parke. I wonder who is sick'; for the good doctor
went at all times of day or night, as cheerfully where he knew he should
get no pay, as to his richest patients.
"Ah, it was true, good stuff of which these early settlers were made;
none better anywhere.
"Of the immediate neighbors, some, as the families at Birmingham,
Doctor Swan and his son-in-law, Esquire Dole, Mr. Baldwin, and probably some others, were here before my father came; others came a few
years later. Those nearest were Doctor Parke, Mr. Blackington, Mr.
Rice, Judge Bagley, a man of keen, shrewd sense, who humorously accounted for his title by the fact that 'judge timber' was scarce in those
times. Mrs. Bagley is still held in loving remembrance by numerous
descendants. Mr. William Morris, full of energy, did a thriving business in his gristmill, store, ashery and distillery. George Morris lived at Bloomfield Center; Mr. John Diamond, his father-in-law,
a little west of there; as did also the Vaughn family. Moses Peck must
have been here before 1825, I think. He found a wife in Judge Bagley's family, as also did Silas Harris.
"Several of the neighboring families, after sojourning here some
years, went west and made themselves pleasant homes in Shiawassee
county and other places.