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Michigan Select Michigan Counties
Names of pioneers-Oshea Wilder, Chas. Olin, Joel B. Marsh, Thos. J. Walker, Eli T. Chase, Elijah Cook, Jr., Joseph Otis, Joseph I. Ehle, Daniel Dunnakin.
Oshea Wilder settled in the town of Eckford in 1831, and continued his residence until the time of his death, which occurred in January, 1846. He was a man of refinement and more than ordinary culture. In his early life he -worked at blacksmithing, a trade he had learned of his father in his New England home. The avails of his first labor were expended in the purchase of books and in the payment of school bills. Being a man of industry, economy and business shrewdness, he accumulated money. In 1821 he went to England and embarked in business in the city of London, which proved a success. His passport, which now lies before me, was vised in France and England, but it is not known that he engaged in business in the former country. Soon after his settlement in this state, he wrote a series of articles for the Detroit Journal and Michigan Advocate, giving graphic descriptions of the beauty and fertility of the country, and predicting its early, and now realized greatness. In 1833, through the same papers, he called public attention to the feasibility of the construction of a railroad through the central portions of the state, commencing at Detroit and terminating at the mouth of St. Joseph river. Upon the receipt of the first article, it was editorially complimented and endorsed, and the editor suggested calling " a general meeting of the citizens of the county at an early day, with the view of considering the expediency of memorializing congress on the subject, and soliciting the War Department to direct a survey of the route and an estimate of the expense."
Michigan Counties
Page 63
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