History of Oakland County, Michigan.

276

HISTORY OF OAKLAND

COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

TtI

They purchased between them three hundred and sixty acres of government
land (this in 18346), and John afterwards purchased an additional quantity in the
town of Rose. Robert Pepper was accompanied by his wife and two sons, and
John by his wife and one son, William H. Pepper, who afterwards died in the
United States service during the Rebellion. He was a member of Company B
of the Fifth Michigan Cavalry (originally First Michigan Mounted Rifles).
Another son of John Pepper, born after the family settled? served during the war
in the Third Michigan Cavalry. John Pepper and his wife became the parents
of ten children,-five sons and five daughters,-of whom six are now living. Mr.
Pepper died in December, 1873, aged sixty years, and his widow is residing in
Davisburgh.
Robert Pepper and wife are the parents of five children,-three sons and two
daughters,-all living.
Previous to their settlement in Michigan, Robert had been to the State with
a quantity of Genesee county (New York) cloth, which he had sold " in quantities to suit purchasers." At the time they located on their farms a log house
was immediately erected on Robert Pepper's place, and the farm carried on jointly
by the brothers. Finally John built a log house on his own property, and removed to it with his family, after which the farm was divided as purchased.
Robert Pepper is still living where he settled thirty-nine years ago, and the
work of clearing the forest around him and preparing the fertile fields as they
now appear has been largely performed by his own hands.
Eli H. Day, fiom the town of New Hartford, near Utica, Oneida county, New
York, located two eighties on section 4 and settled in June, 1838, with his wife
and one child,-a daughter. He was also accompanied by his sister's son, Eli
Brondige (now residing on a part of the old homestead), and George Bigelow
and family. Mr. Day had been employed in the old " Utica mills," a cottonmanufacturing establishment, previous to his removal to Michigan. One son,
Andrew H. Day, born in July, 1840, is now living on the old farm. His
daughter, Mary Jane, is the wife of Jefferson K. Tindall, living in the same
neighborhood.
Previous to the arrival of Mr. Day, Nolton and Spencer Bigelow had located
in the fill of 1837, and built first a log cabin, seven by nine feet in dimensions,
and in the following spring erected two log houses, one for their parents and one
for their brother, George Bigelow, to whom the land belonged. The Bigelows
were from the same neighborhood with Mr. Day, in New York.
On the arrival of the latter, he occupied the first log cabin built by the Bigelow
boys until he could erect a house for himself and family. He built a frame
dwelling, eighteen by twenty-four feet, and moved into it before it was entirely
finished. This was the same summer,-1838.
On one occasion Mr. Day was out with a man named Dilley, after his oxen.
He had purchased a bell of more than ordinary size and hung it on the neck of
one of his oxen. The animals had strayed off a considerable distance, and the
sound of the bell seemed to come from every direction at once. The woods and
hills re-echoed to its tones, and Mr. Day and his companion " followed fast and
followed faster," until they missed their way and knew not in which direction to
turn in order to reach their home.
Mr. Day, in speaking of the incident, remarked that he had no idea there were
any such wild p'aces in the country as he saw on that occasion. Everything
seemed strange, and the two men were in trouble indeed. Finally they arrived
in sight of a fiame house partly finished, and on seeing it Mr. Day told his companion they must be a long distance from home, fobr no one was erecting a frame
house anywhere in his neighborhood. At last they espied a large brush-heap
near the house, which Mr. Day asserted looked very much like one he himself
had piled up, yet they failed to recognize the spot until they were close upon it
and found unmistakable evidence that they were at home, instead of being more
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than three miles away, as they supposed. Their surprise was great, as everything
had looked so strange to them a few minutes before. Settlers frequently were
lost in this way, and localities with which they were familiar appeared as strangely
to them as if they had never seen them before. It has been said that becoming
lost in this manner will force a man into insanity quicker than almost anything
else; but luckily, in all instances of the kind known in this region the settler
was fortunate enough to recognize some landmark before his brain was endangered.
Mr. Day is now residing in Davisburgh, and is engaged in the mercantile business, occupying a store in the east end of the business-block built by Myron
Hickey, on the east side of the river. He has been a prominent man in the
township since his settlement; held the office of justice of the peace for two
terms, having been elected in 1846 and 1850.
Philip Friday, Sr., came to Springfield in July, 1838, firom Albany, New
York, and purchased eighty acres of land from his half-brother, Daniel Jones,
who had entered it as a portion of his farm two or three years before. Mr. Friday
was accompanied by his wife, four sons, and one daughter; three sons are now

living, —Daniel, Isaac, and Philip,-all in Springfield. Mr. Friday's sister, Mary,
had accompanied Mr. Jones at the time he settled. She was never married, and
died March 20, 1876, aged seventy-eight years. Mrs. Friday has been dead a
number of years; but her husband is yet living, at the age of eighty-one.
There were three brothers in the Jones family who settled in the county,Daniel and Timothy in Springfield, and Jesse in Groveland, where he now resides.
Their father lived to the extreme old age of one hundred and five years. He had
served in the ranks of the Revolutionary army, although but fifteen years of age
when first called upon to bear arms.
When Mr. Friday arrived with his family the Joneses were all living together
(the three brothers), and Mr. Friday built a small log house on the land belonging, to Daniel Jones, in which he lived four years, afterwards erecting a frame
house on his own place and moving into it. The latter building is yet standing,
and occupied by Mr. Friday and his son Daniel and family.
The ancestors of the house of Friday were from Germany and Holland, and
settled in the United States at an early period. The name was probably originally spelled Freichtag, as it appears in that orthography at present among those of
the name who are later arrivals in this country.
Some time in the year 1838 the population of Springfield was increased by the
arrival from Columbia county, New York, of Samuel C. Thomas and his brother
William, with their families; Samuel having his wife and two daughters with him
and William only his wife. Both men were natives of the State of Rhode
Island, and possibly removed from it for fear of getting lost " in some vast wilderness." Soon after their arrival in Springfield the wife of William Thomas died,
and he returned to New York. Samuel lived for three years on land owned by
different persons, among them Judge Melvin Dorr, and finally purchased for himself on section 11. William Thollas is now residing in the city of Hudson,
Columbia county, New York.
Samuel C. Thomas is at present living in the- village of Davisburgh. He is the
father of five children, of whom only one-a daughter, Mary-is now living.
She is the wife of Daniel Ward, of Oxford township. Mr. Thomas removed
from his farm to Davisburgh in 1876. He was a resident of the township for
twenty-five years before he visited his old home in New York. In 1839 he built
what he says was the first wagon ever constructed between Pontiac and Flint.
He had learned the trade of a wheelwright while living in the State of New
York. After he had finished his house in Springfield he built a small shop
against one end of it, and in that made his wagon.
Levi Churchill visited Michigan in 1834, and purchased one hundred and sixty
acres of land south of the present site of Davisburgh; but at that time the
country was so wild that he chose not to settle until later. After waiting seven
years, he removed with his wife and son from Chautauqua county, New York,
and settled on his place in May, 1841, where he has since resided. His son,
Cullen B. Churchill, was an only child, and has been dead a number of years;
his widow and her son are now living with Mr. Churchill, Sr.
Philip S. Frisbee located in Lapeer county, Michigan, in the fall of 1833, and
soon afterwards purchased land in Springfield. He moved to the township some
time between 1834 and 1841. He was born near Seneca lake, in the State of
New York, but was living in Chautauqua county at the time he emigrated to
Michigan. Ie and Mr. Churchill were from the same neighborhood. The latter
was born in Hubbardton, Vermont, and when but a year old his father removed
to the town of Alexander, Genesee county, New York, being among the early
settlers of that county.
Harlow Watson is one of the pioneers of Oakland County, having settled in
White Lake township in October, 1837, arriving at Detroit the 3d day of that
month. He is now living at Davisburgh. He was born in the town of Skaneateles, Ononda(ga county, New York, and came to Michigan from that county.
He was accompanied on the boat to Detroit by his mother, sister, brother, and

brother-in law, and his own wife and daughter. His sister was a widow, with one
son. Mr. Watson's brother, Alvin D. Watson, and his brother-in-law, Horace
Root, were both young men, unmarried.
Harlow Watson lived in White Lake township only until the spring of 1838,
when he removed to Springfield and settled on section 31. The other boys
became homesick and soon went back to New York. Alvin Watson afterwards
returned to Oakland County, and is now residing in the village of Waterford.
Root also came back, and went afterwards to the State of Illinois, but finally
returned to New York, and now resides in the town of Elbridge, Onondaga'county.
Mr. Watson has raised three children since he settled in Michigan, and these,
with the daughter he brought with him, are all living, and all girls. Mr. Watson
purchased his land from second hands, but made the first improvements upon it.
The old place is now owned by John Voorheis.
Among the adventures related of pioneers in Oakland County, one which
happened to Mr. Watson was not the least exciting of them all. He had been