MACK, Colonel Stephen^[1]

1766 - 1826  (60 years)  Submit Photo / Document

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• Name	MACK, Stephen
  Prefix	Colonel
  Birth	15 Jun 1766	Marlow, Cheshire, New Hampshire, United States
  Christening	Marlow, Cheshire, New Hampshire, United States
  Gender	Male
  Death	11 Nov 1826	Pontiac, Oakland, Michigan, United States
  Burial	13 Nov 1826	Pontiac, Oakland, Michigan, United States   [2]
  WAC	28 Feb 1906	SLAKE   [2, 3]
  _TAG	Reviewed on FS
  Person ID	I19660	Joseph Smith Sr and Lucy Mack Smith
  Last Modified	19 Aug 2021

  
  

  Father	MACK, Soloman Sr.,   b. 15 Sep 1732, Lyme, New London, Connecticut, United States d. 23 Aug 1820, Gilsum, Cheshire, New Hampshire, United States (Age 87 years)
  Mother	GATES, Lydia,   b. 3 Sep 1732, Haddam, Middlesex, Connecticut, United States d. 9 Mar 1817, Royalton, Windsor, Vermont, United States (Age 84 years)
  Marriage	4 Jan 1759	Haddam, Middlesex, Connecticut, United States   [4, 5]
  Notes	MARRIAGE: Also shown as Married Lyme, New London, Connecticut, USA. ~SEALING_SPOUSE: Also shown as SealSp 27 Aug 1957
  Family ID	F39	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	BOND, Temperance,   b. 8 Sep 1771, Gilsum, Cheshire, New Hampshire, United States d. 5 Sep 1850, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States (Age 78 years)
  Marriage	1788	Tunbridge, Orange, Vermont   [2]
  Notes	~SEALING_SPOUSE: Also shown as SealSp 24 Aug 1939
  Last Modified	24 Jan 2022
  Family ID	F10243	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

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• Notes

  Moved to Michigan in 1807. Involved in the War of 1812. His son, Stephen Jr., was according to this new material, the first white trader with the Indians, on Rock River, in Illinois. (Winnebago Co.) Anyhow, he married the daughter or the Chief of the Pottawatamie Indian tribe. Her name was Hononegah. He was unusual as White traders go, he was faithful to his Indian wife, and she was devoted to him. Ref: History of the Church pp. 20-21) Stephen MACK was born on 15 Jun 1766 in Marlow, Cheshire County, New Hampshire. He enlisted in Continental Army for three years in 1789, a farmer, from Gilsum, New Hampshire and re-enlisted in 1782. He was hog reeve in Gilsum in 1790, soon after his marriage; lived in Gilsum to 1795 when he moved to Tunbridge, VT, where his first daughter was born. He was a Colonel in the militia at Tunbridge, and a store and tavern keeper. Apparently he was prosperous and several of the family, including his father and mother, joined him there. He went to Detroit, Michigan about 1807-1810 and was in the service in defense of that city when General Hull surrendered it and his army to General Brock. He was instrumental in ransoming captives from the Indians, and as Captain, he served as head of a courts-martial. He formed the firm of Mack and Emerson with Thomas Emerson, and later the firm was known Mack and Emerson with Thomas Emerson, and later the firm was known as Mack and Conant after Emerson sold out They were fur traders and general merchants. He bought the site of Pontiac, Michigan, and laid out the village and the mills after the site was declared part of Michigan Territory. He was one of the incorporators of the Bank of Michigan. He died on 11 Nov 1826 at Pontiac, Oakland County, Michigan. The History of the Church pg 20 Stephen Mack who, as we have already seen, was engaged in the mercantile and tinning business at Tunbridge, Vermont, finally extended his enterprises westward as far as Detroit, Michigan. He was in Detroit in 1812 at the time of Hull's surrender, and had been appointed to the command of a company of troops as captain, although generally called "Major Mack." When subsequently--and shortly after his appointment as captain--he was ordered by his superior officers to surrender, he was so highly indignant that he broke his sword across his knee and threw it into the lake, saying he would never submit to the disgraceful compromise. (8) (footnote #8 - "Without firing a gun or waiting for a gun to be fired by the enemy, Hull hoisted the signal of surrender--a white table-cloth--and gave up the fort and town, and with them the control of the territory of Michigan, to the enemy. This act filled the whole country with indignation. Hull was declared to be another Benedict Arnold; he was tried by court-martial, convicted of cowardice, sentenced to be shot. The President, however, pardoned him, on account of his services during the Revolution." (History of United States, Morris, pp. 274-5.) A later generation has somewhat modified the harsh judgment passed upon General Hull by his contemporaries.) By the year 1820, according to the written statement of Horace Stanley, Stephen Mack was the proprietor of a large mercantile establishment in Detroit--large for those days, employing six clerks. Besides this establishment he had a number of stores in various parts of Michigan and Ohio. At his own expense he built a turnpike road from Detroit to Pontiact where he owned a large farm upon which he lived. In 1828 he was member of the council of the territory of Michigan. All this would indicate that Stephen Mack was a man of intelligence, judgment, enterprise, and successful withal. When he died he left his family an estate of $50,000, without incumbrance, which, in those days, was a large fortune.(9) (footnote #9 - History of the Prophet Joseph, Lucy Smith, Ch. iv.) ------------------------------------- Parents: Solomon MACK, Orange County, Vermont. Source: FHL Film: 0027619; General index to vital records of Vermont, early to 1870 Vermont. Secretary of State.) He died on 10 APR 1850 at Rockton, Winnebago County, Illinois. Life on Illinois' Last Frontier Anna Elizabeth Carlson - Heritage School, Rockford In the 1830s much of northern Illinois was wilderness. Ten years later the entire area was settled except for a few small prairies short of timber. Because of the Black Hawk War, people learned about the good land in the Rock River Valley. The first wave of settlers arrived in 1833. Over the next three years, the greatest land craze that the United States had ever seen occurred in the Rock River Valley. The story of Macktown captures this time. Stephen Mack, a fur trader, had traveled in the Rock River Valley since the early 1820s. He was born in Poultney, Vermont, on February 20, 1798. When he left Moors Charity School, he joined his father, who owned a fur company called Mack and Conant. While in the Green Bay area he met fur traders who told him of the Rock River Valley's potential for trading. He traded for several years near a Potawatomi village, which today is Grand Detour. In 1829 he married Hononegah, the Potawatomi chief's daughter, in a Native American ceremony. Stephen Mack had the advantage of knowing the area. As settlers poured into the lands, he needed to make his claim. In 1835 he selected section 23 on a bluff above the Rock River, just below the mouth of the Pekatonica River. This was a natural crossroad. Here, he plotted his town of Pekatonica, which settlers later called Macktown. Mack acquired about a thousand acres. When Mack was told it was too hilly here he said, "It is far better than Milwaukee." Native Americans had used this site for ten thousand years. Stephen Mack intentionally chose his claim for its position on the rivers. He wanted to make a river town, since travel by road was slow and difficult. At this time, Chicago and Galena were the two developed towns in northern Illinois. Lead from the mines in Galena took eleven days by wagon to reach Dixon's Ferry. Traveling by road was inefficient. For growth to occur, farmers had to deliver their grain and produce to Chicago, and the mines had to ship their lead. Mack judged the Rock River navigable for 150 miles and the Pekatonica River for 100 miles. The state of Illinois agreed, and in 1837 the Illinois General Assembly declared the Rock River navigable and directed that $100,000 be spent for improvements. Stephen Mack built a double cabin, and in 1839 he constructed the largest frame house west of Chicago. Mack also established a store called a mercantile. He soon founded a school. Later, Mack built a second school with a large stone fireplace and chimney. Mack paid the teacher's salary. Mack's double cabin became a tavern for travelers. Records show that people were continually arriving. Mack was a generous man. He allowed the settlers to borrow money from him to buy their lots. Between 1836 and 1845, he sold property to H.M. Bates, David Jewett, L.W. Osgood, Robert Gilmour, Darius Adams, Isaac Adams, and John Spafford. At the same time, he continued to purchase additional land. It is interesting to note that beside his signature for the sale of the lots was Hononegah's mark. Their joint ownership of land shows his respect for her, which was unusual for the time. Stephen Mack plotted his entire property, which covered all of section 23. Most early towns were never plotted this large. He felt his lots were a bargain. He created ten lots to a block instead of the usual twelve. He claimed that a corner lot by his store was worth a thousand dollars. Pekatonica attracted numerous craftsmen, including a tailor, W.M. Halley. He sewed the latest fashions; however the residents of Pekatonica did not need these fashions. So the Talcott family paid him to stay. John Jewett was a blacksmith, and Thomas Farmer was a stone mason. Other craftsmen in Pekatonica were a saw miller, a wagon maker, a carpenter, a cabinetmaker, a boot maker, and a maker of holloware. In 1837 Stephen Mack established a ferry that carried people across the Rock River. Because of the ferry, the main road north passed through Pekatonica. Between 1842 and 1843, Mack built a bridge to replace the ferry, largely with his own funds. It was the first bridge across the Rock River and had a draw of thirty-six feet to allow for steamboats. When the rival city of Rockford decided to build a bridge with state funds, Stephen Mack wrote to legislator Robert Cross. He argued that it was unjust for the state to build a bridge with public money when Illinois had refused to fund his structure. On April 4, 1840, Mack made his first will for his nine children. Five months later, Hononegah and Stephen Mack were remarried in a Christian ceremony. This remarriage was to prevent confusion in his will. In spite of being the first settlement in the Rock River frontier, Pekatonica failed. Its population peaked at about three hundred people. Stephen Mack placed M. E. Mack, his cousin, in charge of his store. However, the store lost two thousand dollars. It turned out that M.E. Mack was stealing money. When M.E. Mack died, Stephen Mack was responsible for his debts. Stephen Mack called in the sheriff, but nothing could be done. In 1836 General Chiopicki-a hero of the Polish War for Independence-claimed land in section 23 under the Polish Claim Act of 1834. This prevented secure title to property until an act of Congress in 1842. Sadly, another cause of the town's failure was Mack's marriage to a Native American. When settlers arrived in Pekatonica and saw an Indian, they left. New settlers from the East did not want to live with Indians. William Talcott, the founder of Rockton across the Rock River from Pekatonica, had a son Thomas who kept a journal. In it, Thomas Talcott referred to Hononegah as "that squaw." Stephen Mack was one of the first white settlers in the Rock River Valley. His town Pekatonica failed, but the region grew and prospered.-[From Edson J. Carr, The History of Rockton; Janice Schmang, Stephen Mack and the Early Settlement of Macktown and Rockton; Stephen Mack, Early Letter from Rockford and Winnebago County; Original Federal Land Survey Notes; Winnebago County Deeds.] -------------------------- The History of the Church pg. 20- "Stephen Mack second son of Solomon enlisted in the Revolutionary army at the age of fourteen and was promoted to Brigadier General." Stephen Mack who, as we have already seen, was engaged in the mercantile and tinning business at Tunbridge, Vermont, finally extended his enterprises westward as far as Detroit, Michigan. He was in Detroit in 1812 at the time of Hull's surrender, and had been appointed to the command of a company of troops as captain, although generally called "Major Mack," When subsequently--and shortly after his appointment to surrender, he was so highly indignant that he broke he sword across his knee and threw it into the lake, saying he would never submit to the disgraceful compromise. (Insert Footnote - "Without firing a gun or waiting for a gun to be fired by the enemy, Hull hoisted the signal of surrender--a white table-cloth--and gave up the fort and town, and with them the control of the territory of Michigan, to the enemy. This act filled the whole country with indignation. Hull was declared to be another Benedict Arnold; he was tried by court-martial, convicted of cowardice, sentenced to be shot. The President, however, pardoned him, on account of his services during the Revolution." ((History of United States, Morris, pp. 274-5)) A later generation has somewhat modified the harsh judgment passed upon General Hull by his contemporaries.) By the year 1820, according to the written statement of Horace Stanley, Stephen Mack was the proprietor of a large mercantile establishment in Detroit--large for those days, employing six clerks. Besides this establishment he had a number of stores in various parts of Michigan and Ohio. At his own expense he built a turn-pike road from Detroit to Pontiac where he owned a large farm upon which he lived. In 1828 he was a member of the council of the territory of Michigan. All this would indicate that Stephen Mack was a man of intelligence, judgment, enterprise, and successful withal. When he died he left his family an estate of $50,000, without incumbrance, which, in those days, was a large fortune. (History of the Prophet Joseph, Lucy Smith, ch. iv.) ------------------------------- History of Joseph Smith by His Mother Chapter 4 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 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 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. "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. Stanley 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 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. -------------------------- From Puritan to Yankee: Character and the Social Order of Connecticut by Richard Bushman What did Solomon Mack's son Stephen, who was born in Marlow, do after he left New Hampshire? Plenty! After young manhood in the area of Sharon, Vermont, he went West. In Michigan, he started a fur trade which he eventually sold to John Astor of the American Fur Company. He established a town. He built a road between Pontiac and Detroit, one end of which is Mack Avenue, still the main artery in Detroit today. GIVEN NAMES: Also shown as Stephen Andrew BIRTH: Also shown as Born Lyme, Connecticut, USA. ~BAPTISM: Also shown as Baptized 27 Feb 1906

  
  

• Sources

  [S11] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Unknown (Reliability: 3). [S989] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Genealogical Index(R), downloaded 12 Nov 2009 (Reliability: 3). [S989] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Genealogical Index(R), citing microfilm 458328, downloaded 12 Nov 2009 (Reliability: 3). [S560] Ancestry.com, Connecticut, Town Marriage Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection), (Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006.Original data - White, Lorraine Cook, ed. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994-2002.Original data: White, Lor). Marriage date: 4 Jan 1759 Marriage place: Lyme Residence date: Residence place: Lyme http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=sse&db=barbourctmar&h=611833&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt [S142] U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900, (Yates Publishing. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.), Source number: 2786.000; Source type: Electronic Database; Number of Pages: 1; Submitter Code: GCH.