Stephen Mack (1766-1826) served as a privateer with his father and brother at the age of thirteen. He served in the New Hampshire militia as a private in Captain John Trotter's Company, Colonel Rufus Putnam's 5th Regiment and then Captain Nehemiah Houghton's Company, Colonel Nichols' Regiment at West Point. Stephen Mack was born in Marlow, Cheshire County, New Hampshire on June 15, 1766. He married Temperance Bond and they had twelve children, nine daughters and three sons. He moved his family to Michigan in the 1820s, briefly living in Detroit before settling in Pontiac. He is known as the founder of Pontiac and represented Oakland County in the first Michigan Territorial Council of 1824. Stephen Mack died November 11, 1826, and is buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery, Pontiac, Oakland County, Michigan. SAR Patriot Number P-240444 DAR Patriot Number A072896 Find-A-Grave Number 27079931
From the History of Oakland County, Michigan by Thaddeus D. Seeley (1912)
The blazing of the trail into Oakland county did much for the settlement of Michigan, as it proved that the interior of the territory was not the morass that the interested fur traders had reported it to be, unfit for cultivation, but was as fine farming land as could be desired. A company of Detroit and Macomb county men, called the Pontiac Company, with Colonel Stephen Mack as their agent, purchased 1,280 acres of land for the purpose of establishing a town on the tract. The company was formed in November, 1818, and the first building erected on the site of Pontiac was a log cabin put up by their workmen who came out to build the dam and sawmill. It stood on the corner of Saginaw and Water streets, near where the old Clinton House is now located.
Colonel Mack was long the most prominent business man in Pontiac. He was born in Lyme, Connecticut, 1764, and emigrated with his father, Solomon Mack, before the revolution to Gilsum, New Hampshire. The war found both father and son rendering service with the patriots.
Stephen Mack’s name appears on a receipt dated Montague, March 24, 1781, for bounty paid said Mack by the town of Montague, to serve in Continental Army for the term of three years; also, descriptive list of men raised in Hampshire to serve in the Continental Army, as returned by Noah Goodwin, superintendent; age, 16 years; stature, 5 feet 4 inches; complexion, light; occupation, farmer; engaged for town of Montague, April 2, 1781, term of three years; also, private in Captain John Trotter’s Company, Colonel Rufus Putnam’s sixth regiment; muster roll for April, 1781; dated, West Point. (Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolution, Vol. 10, page 109.)
Colonel Mack married, 1788, Temperance Bond of Gilsum, and they settled in Tunbridge, Vermont, where he engaged in the mercantile business. He also built a tavern at the “branch” which became famous in after years as the “White House.” It was the first painted building in the place. He took a great interest in military matters and eventually rose to the command of one of the militia regiments of the Green Mountain state, whence came his title of Colonel. About the year 1810 he came to Detroit, where he again embarked as a merchant, and was here when General Hull surrendered to the British. During their occupancy his affairs were in pretty bad shape. After the war was over he engaged in trade under the firm name of Mack and Conant. He was a trustee of the village of Detroit and a member of the reception committee for President Monroe in 1817; supervisor in 1816–1818, and director of the Bank of Michigan in 1818. After the Pontiac Company was formed he made Pontiac his home. He and his partners associated themselves with Judge Sibley as a silent partner and under the name of Mack, Conant and Sibley obtained from the Pontiac Company the title to the water power for which they were to pay a thousand dollars toward county buildings, if the county seat were located at Pontiac. Beside the dam and sawmill, they erected a grist mill and a small woolen mill, which was of great convenience to the pioneers.
Patriot Summary
Stephen Mack (1766-1826) served as a privateer with his father and brother at the age of thirteen. He served in the New Hampshire militia as a private in Captain John Trotter's Company, Colonel Rufus Putnam's 5th Regiment and then Captain Nehemiah Houghton's Company, Colonel Nichols' Regiment at West Point. Stephen Mack was born in Marlow, Cheshire County, New Hampshire on June 15, 1766. He married Temperance Bond and they had twelve children, nine daughters and three sons. He moved his family to Michigan in the 1820s, briefly living in Detroit before settling in Pontiac. He is known as the founder of Pontiac and represented Oakland County in the first Michigan Territorial Council of 1824. Stephen Mack died November 11, 1826, and is buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery, Pontiac, Oakland County, Michigan. SAR Patriot Number P-240444 DAR Patriot Number A072896 Find-A-Grave Number 27079931From the History of Oakland County, Michigan by Thaddeus D. Seeley (1912)
The blazing of the trail into Oakland county did much for the settlement of Michigan, as it proved that the interior of the territory was not the morass that the interested fur traders had reported it to be, unfit for cultivation, but was as fine farming land as could be desired. A company of Detroit and Macomb county men, called the Pontiac Company, with Colonel Stephen Mack as their agent, purchased 1,280 acres of land for the purpose of establishing a town on the tract. The company was formed in November, 1818, and the first building erected on the site of Pontiac was a log cabin put up by their workmen who came out to build the dam and sawmill. It stood on the corner of Saginaw and Water streets, near where the old Clinton House is now located.
Colonel Mack was long the most prominent business man in Pontiac. He was born in Lyme, Connecticut, 1764, and emigrated with his father, Solomon Mack, before the revolution to Gilsum, New Hampshire. The war found both father and son rendering service with the patriots.
Stephen Mack’s name appears on a receipt dated Montague, March 24, 1781, for bounty paid said Mack by the town of Montague, to serve in Continental Army for the term of three years; also, descriptive list of men raised in Hampshire to serve in the Continental Army, as returned by Noah Goodwin, superintendent; age, 16 years; stature, 5 feet 4 inches; complexion, light; occupation, farmer; engaged for town of Montague, April 2, 1781, term of three years; also, private in Captain John Trotter’s Company, Colonel Rufus Putnam’s sixth regiment; muster roll for April, 1781; dated, West Point. (Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolution, Vol. 10, page 109.)
Colonel Mack married, 1788, Temperance Bond of Gilsum, and they settled in Tunbridge, Vermont, where he engaged in the mercantile business. He also built a tavern at the “branch” which became famous in after years as the “White House.” It was the first painted building in the place. He took a great interest in military matters and eventually rose to the command of one of the militia regiments of the Green Mountain state, whence came his title of Colonel. About the year 1810 he came to Detroit, where he again embarked as a merchant, and was here when General Hull surrendered to the British. During their occupancy his affairs were in pretty bad shape. After the war was over he engaged in trade under the firm name of Mack and Conant. He was a trustee of the village of Detroit and a member of the reception committee for President Monroe in 1817; supervisor in 1816–1818, and director of the Bank of Michigan in 1818. After the Pontiac Company was formed he made Pontiac his home. He and his partners associated themselves with Judge Sibley as a silent partner and under the name of Mack, Conant and Sibley obtained from the Pontiac Company the title to the water power for which they were to pay a thousand dollars toward county buildings, if the county seat were located at Pontiac. Beside the dam and sawmill, they erected a grist mill and a small woolen mill, which was of great convenience to the pioneers.