Chapter 4
The
remarkable life of Stephen Mack. Young Revolutionary War
soldier; successful businessman of Tunbridge, Vermont; pioneer
developer of Detroit and Pontiac, Michigan.
June
15, 1766 to November 14, 1826
My brother Stephen, who was next in age to Jason, was
born in the town of Marlow, June 15, 1766.1
I shall pass his childhood in silence and say nothing about
him until he attained the age of fourteen, at which time
he enlisted in the army, the circumstances of which were
as follows: 2
A recruiting officer came into the neighborhood to draft soldiers
for the Revolutionary War, and he called out a company of
militia to which my brother belonged in order to take therefrom
such as were best qualified to do military duty. My brother,
being very anxious to go into the army at this time, was
so fearful that he would be passed by on account of his
age that the sweat stood in large drops on his face and
he shook like an aspen leaf. Fortunately the officer made
choice of him among others, and he entered the army and
continued in the service of his country until he was seventeen.3
During this time he was in many battles, both on land and
sea, traveling through cold, hunger, and fatigue and enduring
every species of hardship that human nature could endure.
Several times he narrowly escaped death by famine; but,
according to his own account, whenever he was brought into
a situation to fully realize his entire dependence upon
God, the hand of Providence was always manifested in his deliverance.
Not long ago I met with an intimate acquaintance of my brother
Stephen, and requested him to furnish me such facts as were
in his possession in relation to him; and he wrote the following
brief yet comprehensive account for the gratification of
my readers:
“I, Horace Stanly, was born in Tunbridge, Orange County, Vermont, August 21, 1798. I have been
personally acquainted with Major Mack and his family ever
since I can remember, as I lived in the same township, within
one mile and a half of the Major’s farm, and two miles from
his store, and eight miles from Chelsea, the county seat
of Orange County, where he conducted the mercantile and
tinning business.
“My eldest brother went to learn the tinning business of the
Major’s workmen. The Major, being a man of great enterprise,
energetic in business, and possessed of a high degree of
patriotism, launched forth on the frontiers of Detroit in
the year 1800 (if I recollect rightly), where he immediately
commenced trading with the Indians.
“He left his family in Tunbridge, on his farm, and while he
was engaged in business at Detroit
he visited them — sometimes once in a year, in eighteen
months, or in two years, just as it happened.
“I visited Detroit, November 1, 1820, where I found the Major
merchandising upon quite an extensive scale, having six
clerks in one store; besides this, he had many other stores
in the territory of Michigan, as well as in various parts
of Ohio.
“His business at Pontiac was principally farming and building, but
in order to facilitate these two branches of business, he
set in operation a saw and flour mill, and afterwards added
different branches of mechanism. He made the turnpike road
from Detroit to Pontiac at his own expense. He also did
considerable other public work, for the purpose of giving
employment to the poor.
“He never encouraged idleness, or the man above his business.
In 1828, having been absent from Detroit a short time, I returned. The Major was then
a member of the council of the territory, and had acted
a very conspicuous part in enhancing its prosperity and
enlarging its settlement; and it was a common saying, that
he had done much more for the territory than any other individual.
“In short, the Major was a man of talents of the first order.
He was energetic and untiring. He always encouraged industry,
and was very cautious how he applied his acts of charity.”
My brother was in the city of Detroit in 1812, the year in which Hull surrendered
the territory to the British crown. My brother, being somewhat
celebrated for his prowess, was selected by General Hull
to take the command of a company as captain. After a short
service in this office, he was ordered to surrender. At
this his indignation was roused to the highest pitch. He
broke his sword across his knee and, throwing it into the
lake, exclaimed that he would never submit to such a disgraceful
compromise while the blood of an American continued to run
through his veins.
This drew the especial vengeance of the army upon his head;
and his property doubtless would have been sacrificed to
their resentment had they known the situation of his affairs.
But this they did not know, as his housekeeper deceived
them by a stratagem related by Mr. Stanly as follows:
“At the surrender of Detroit, not having as yet moved his family hither,
Major Mack had an elderly lady, by the name of Trotwine,
keeping house for him. The old lady took in some of the
most distinguished British officers as boarders. She justified
them in their course of conduct towards the Yankees, and,
by her shrewdness and tact, she gained the esteem of the
officers, and thus secured through them the goodwill of
the soldiery, so far as to prevent their burning (what they
supposed to be) her store and dwelling, both of which were
splendid buildings.
“The Major never forgot this service done him by the old lady,
for he ever afterwards supported her handsomely.”
Thus was a great amount of goods and money saved from the hands
of his enemies. But this is not all: the news came to her
ears that they were about to burn another trading establishment
belonging to the Major, and without waiting to consult him,
she went immediately to the store and took from the counting
room several thousand dollars, which she secreted until
the British left the city. The building and goods were burned.
As soon as the English left the territory, he recommenced business
and removed his family from Tunbridge to Detroit. Here they
remained but a short time, when he took them to Pontiac;
and as soon as they were well established or settled in
this place, he himself went to the city of Rochester, where
he built a sawmill.
But in the midst of his prosperity, he was called away to experience
another state of existence with barely a moment’s warning,
for he was sick only four days from the time he was first
taken ill until he died, and even on the fourth day, and
in the last hour of his illness, it was not supposed to
be at all dangerous until his son, who sat by his bedside,
discovered he was dying.4
He left his family with an estate of fifty thousand dollars,
clear of encumbrance. He was a moral man, a man of business,
and a man of the most intrepid courage, which last was shown
in the defense of his country which was ever the interest
that lay nearest to his heart.
Join us
for Chapter 5.
——————
Notes
1. Mother Smith means the next
brother in age to Jason. The birth order of Solomon
and Lydia Mack’s children is as follows: Jason, Lovisa,
Lovina, Lydia, Stephen, Daniel, Solomon, and Lucy.
2. This was actually Stephen’s
reenlistment. He and his brother Jason had enlisted on July
25, 1779, and served until August 31, 1779. The enlistment
mentioned here by Lucy was for a three-year term that began
on April 2, 1781. (See Archibald F. Bennett, “Solomon Mack
and His Family,” Improvement Era 58 [December 1955]:
906, 907.)
3. Stephen served from 1781 until
1783.
4. It is insightful to note Stephen
Mack’s obituary, which appeared in the Detroit Gazette,
November 14, 1826, and read, in part, as follows: “Col.
Stephen Mack, a soldier of the Revolution, and enterprising
and industrious citizen, and a kind and provident father,
departed this life last Saturday morning at Pontiac, in
the seventy-second year of his age. Col. M. has for nearly
twenty years resided in this territory, and has been distinguished
from the mass of his fellow-citizens for his enterprise
and the great utility of his views. It is owing to his exertions
more than to any other man’s, that the first settlers of
Oakland County were so soon accommodated with mills and
other useful works. His sacrifices and his exertions in
promoting the best interests of the new county, which he
had been so eminently useful in settling and organizing,
endeared him to his fellow-citizens ... The loss of such
a man is truly that of the public — and many are those who
share the grief of the numerous family which he has left.”
(Quoted in Anderson, Heritage, p. 180.)
