Michigan historical collections. [Vol. 17]

158

ANNUAL MEETING, 1890.

avenue of knowledge is forever closed, the tongue which told us the
stories of the far off past is silent, and the hand which recorded events
is palsied in death. He has left a record written by himself, and from
a brief autobiography of his own we shall furnish the readers of the
Gazette with incidents in his early life. Edward W. Peck was born
at West Bloomfield, Ontario county, New York, March 19), 1807. Of
his parentage and early history he says:
"First, let me say that our branch of the family name descended from
William Peck, who was born in London in 1601, emigrated to America
in 1637, and settled in Connecticut. My grand-father, of the fifth
generation from Wm., moved from Connecticut in 1800 with a family
of six sons and four daughters and settled in West Bloomfield, Ontario
county N. Y. My father had, in 1798, driven a yoke of oxen, attached
to a cart loaded with flour, from Connecticut to Ontario county, over
300 miles, and subsequently returned with his oxen and cart to Connecticut, and again came on with his father. Personally, I have not
suffered from being a pioneer of Oakland, as many have; my life has
not been a very eventful one, and I have great reason to be thankful
for the blessing of good health and for the constant supply of my
daily wants, which is about all we need here or can enjoy. I came to
the then territory of Michigan on a tour of observation in May, 1830,
in company with two friends, one a distant relative, the other, Mr. John
Garland, who the next year settled in Pontiac, and soon after married
a daughter of Judge Bagleyý now Mrs. Nancy Davis. We spent
some three or four weeks traveling in Washtenaw, Wayne and Oakland
counties, two or three days in Pontiac, finding here an acquintance, the
late Francis Darrow, who took special pains to show us the town and
its advantages. Pontiac was then like Plattsburg in the old song,
'Town small, he grow bigger do hereafter.' There was a hotel,
situated, I think, on the corner where Boyd's millinery store is, a
small hatter's shop, two or three stores, and a printing office was
being put in order, by a man called 'Saxey Bogey,' to publish the
Oakland Chronicle. My friend Garland then made some arrangements
about business, and on his return to Pontiac, engaged in the manufacture of wooden ware, pails, tubs, etc. 'ýe Saginaw turnpike was then
being built and was completed about seven or eight miles from Detroit.
After traveling about the country all we desired, we returned to Detroit.
stopping at the 'Yankee Boarding House' three or four days, waiting
for the new steamboat 'Henry Clay' to arrive, on which to take passage
to Buffalo. This steamboat was thought to be a wonder. We took
passage on her to Buffalo and I returned to my father's home.