An Account of Oakland County / edited by Lillian Drake Avery.

PERSONAL SKETCHES

413

the latter in the state of New York. Mr. Ross was a young man when
he came to Oakland county, and for many years he was a prosperous
farmer in Avon township. Of the three children Mrs. Terry is the
eldest, the other two being Alice E. and William J. Mr. and Mrs.
Terry have two children: Margaret N. is the wife of Harry H. Hiltz,
of Pontiac, of whom individual mention is made elsewhere in this volume, and Ernestine B. is the wife of William Roy Thompsop, of
Pontiac.
Hiland H. Thatcher.-One of the most important general insurance
agencies in the city of Pontiac is that conducted by Mr. Thatcher, who
has here built up a business of broad scope and representative order, his
offices being in suite 609-612 of the Pontiac Bank building. Mr.
Thatcher has reason to take pride not only in the fact that he is a native
son of Michigan but also in the prominent part played by his father as
one of the early and influential members of the bar of Oakland county
and also as the first mayor of Pontiac after its incorporation as a city.
Mr. Thatcher was born at Saginaw, Michigan, November 24, 1865, and
is a son of Erastus and Fannie E. (Richardson) Thatcher, who were
honored residents of Oakland county for many years prior to their
death and both of whom died at their home in the city of Pontiac, where
the father had long been engaged in the successful practice of law and
been a citizen of prominence and influence. Erastus Thacther was a
stalwart Republican in his political allegiance, and was a leader in the
local councils of his party. He was long and actively affiliated with
the Masonic fraternity. Mrs. Fannie E. (Richardson) Thatcher was
born at Walnut Lake, West Bloomfield township, Oakland county, and
her father, Peter Richardson, was one of the sterling pioneer settlers of
this county. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Erastus Thatcher was
solemnized in Oakland county, whence they subsequently removed to
Saginaw, where their son Hiland H., of this review, was born, he having been seven years of age at the time of the family removal to Ann
Arbor, where he received his early education. The parents eventually
returned to Oakland county and here they continued to maintain their
home at Pontiac during the remainder of their lives. Hiland H. Thatcher was fourteen years old at the time when the family home was
established in Pontiac, and here he continued his studies in the public
schools until he had duly profited by the advantages of the high school.
His initial business experience was acquired through his employment in
the old-time and leading Pontiac clothing establishment of C. R. Mably, who wrote his name large upon the history of Michigan retail
merchandising. With this concern Mr. Thatcher remained five years,
and it was in 1889 he here estbalished himself in the general insurance
business, in which he has continued during the intervening period of
more than thirty-five years. He has standing as one of the best known
and most successful insurance men in this section of the state, retains
a representative clientage and has the agency for leading insurance
companies in the various lines of indemnity underwriting. During a
period of twenty years Mr. Thatcher traveled extensively asa an insurance adjuster for five leading insurance companies, and he is a recognized authority in all departments. of insur4nge. The year 1925 finds