LIFE OF STEPHEN MACK.
My brother Stephen, who was next in age to Jason, was born in the town
of Marlow, June 15, 1766.
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:
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. During this time he was in many
battles, both on land and sea, and several times 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 since 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.
Respectfully by
Horace Stanly.
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 good will 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.
He left his family with an estate of fifty thousand dollars, clear of
encumbrance.