Caroline L. Tindall, Tecumseh, aged 71 years. Mr. Deane, Adrian, aged 80 years. Geo. H. Kedzie, Deerfield, aged 66 years. John Kessler, Clayton, aged 64 years. DEATHS IN MAY, 1886 Mrs. David Coryell, Ridgeway, aged 70 years. Geo. P. Wood, Blissfield, aged 70 years. One hundred and five pioneers have died in Lenawee county during the last twelve months, and we can most truly record that they were among the most estimable citizens of Michigan. The average age of the one hundred and five was seventy years. The oldest was Mrs. Mary Lapham, of Rome township, aged ninety-six years; there were thirty-two who died between eighty and ninety years of age; four over ninety. MARQUETTE COUNTY BY PETER WHITE Mrs. Mehitable E. Everitt, wife of Philo M. Everitt, was born at Concord, N. H., December 8, 1818, and died at Marquette, December 1, 1883. She came to Michigan in November, 1840, and settled at Jackson, where she lived ten years. She resided at Marquette from 1850 to the time of her death. OAKLAND COUNTY BY O. POPPLETON The following pioneers of Oakland county have died since the last meeting held in June, 1885: I have been enabled to collect the data and report the names of 51 pioneers whose deaths have occurred during the past year in the county. Aggregate number of years, 3,778. Average age, 74 1-13. Oldest, Mrs. Harriet Cox, 96. Next oldest, Ira Toms, 92. BRIEF SKETCHES Lyman G. Wilcox was born in Rome, N. Y., 1802, came to Michigan in 1823, returned to New York the same year, and in 1824 returned to Michigan and settled in Rochester, Oakland county. Died July 31, 1885. He was one of the earliest settlers in his township. Was ever noted for his enterprise, business capacity, integrity and benevolence. He had witnessed and assisted in the development of his county, which ranks second to none in the State. Noah Tyler, born in Chili, N. Y., October 19, 1821. Came to Michigan in 1841. Settled in Orion on a farm. Moved to Pontiac in 1868. Was elected secretary of the Oakland County Agricultural Society for fourteen consecutive years. He was an efficient, capable, faithful officer. He died June 19, 1885. Mrs. Polly Green, widow of Wardell Green, was born in Springwater, Livingston county, N. Y., September 26, 1802. Married in 1820. Settled in Farmington in 1824. Was the second white woman who settled in the township. Ira Toms, aged ninety-two years, one month and twenty-six days, died at his home in Birmingham, May 7, 1886. Born in Great Barrington, Mass., March 12, 1794. Removed with his parents to Bloomfield, Ontario county, N. Y., in 1800. From there he went to Yarmouth near Kettle Creek, Canada West, in 1820, where he married Mima Crawford, daughter of David Crawford, December 9, 1821, with whom he lived until her death, May 2, 1866. He became a member of the Presbyterian Church, in Bloomfield, Ontario county, N. Y., in 1818, and assisted in organizing a society in Birmingham in 1834. Mr. Toms was a pensioner of the war of 1812, having been engaged in the service of his country, in the defense of the Niagara frontier, where he contracted a permanent disability. In 1824 he removed from Canada and settled in Troy, Mich., locating the w 1⁄2 of the s w 14, sec. 28, town 2 north, range 11 east, and assisted in developing said township. He subsequently sold this farm and purchased on sections 29 and 32 in the same township, moving upon the lands in 1832. In 1856 he removed to Birmingham, where he lived until his death. Thus passed away one after another the very early pioneers of the State. Henry Wisner Horton, born in Oswego, N. Y., May 31, 1797. Married Ada Jennings, in Pennfield, N. J., January 31, 1819, who died January 20, 1856. In 1830 with his wife and three children he came from Royalton, Niagara county, N. Y., by land, with a covered wagon and team, settling in Groveland, Oakland county, Michigan. Was elected town clerk at the first election held in the township in 1835, holding many offices of trust and responsibility in his township. He was the last of the old pioneer settlers of his township to pass over the river. He was one of the original stockholders of the Oakland Chronicle; was strictly a temperate man, and early took issue against the use of alcholic liquors as a beverage; was a member of the M. E. Church. In him was witnessed a pleasing example of happy He died at nearly the age of eighty-nine years. old age. Harley Olmstead was born June 19, 1803, in Pittstown, Rensselaer county, N. Y. He made the first entry of government land in White Lake township, building its first house in 1832. He died October 1, 1885. Horatio Merryweather was born in Yorkshire, England, August 20, 1800. Came to the United States in 1851, was employed in the government survey of Lake Superior country; settled in Springfield in 1853; served as surveyor for Oakland county for four years; died in Springfield, September 9, 1885. DR. EDWARD BARTLETT Dr. Edward Bartlett, a well known and much respected physician of northern Oakland, died at his home in the village of Springfield, Friday night, May 28, 1885, of consumption, aged sixty-two years. The deceased was born in Glastonbury, Somersetshire, England, in 1824. He came to America with his parents in 1829, living in Onondaga and Cayuga counties, N. Y., until 1839, when he came to Michigan, and this county, with the family, settling in the township of Independence, on new land north of Clarkston village. Here the deceased spent his boyhood and struggled hard to obtain an education, the crowning motive of his early life. He read medicine with Dr. Abbey in Clarkston, and attended lectures at the medical department of the Western Reserve College at Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. W. G. Elliott, of this city, belonged to the same class. From this college he received his diploma and began practice in Springfield, Clarkston, and vicinity, where he practised until prostrated by disease. For almost a quarter of a century he had been postmaster, and had been town clerk several terms. The following ante mortem poem was written by Dr. Bartlett in 1846, and published in the Gazette, to which he was a frequent contributor. While the sentiment as applied to mankind is of universal application, it is a fitting and appropriate benediction on his own life, and in his case the sentiment, "O that I may die with my friends," was gratified, and he passed to his long home amid the tears and caresses of those he loved most. ANTE MORTEM "What 'vails it where we barter life." "O that I may die with my friends," But when grim death with his message attends, The place where we barter our life To pay the great debt which we owe, Are there any who truly would grieve, I would be far away when my soul takes its leave, Let not a tear moisten the eye When my life shall be drawn near a close, As the weary would seek for repose. And if there are none to deplore, Then, too, would I die on some distant shore; To shed the deceitful tear With a cold, unfeeling heart. I would rather the stranger alone should be near |