West Bloomfield Entrepreneur - Joseph Tarr Copeland - Part 1 of 2
Although not born in West Bloomfield, nor arriving here till he was 45 years old, Joseph Tarr Copeland was probably the townships most celebrated resident during the 1800s. From humble beginnings, he took full advantage of the gift of a college education and never looked back.
The Maine Years
Joseph Tarr Copeland was born in Newcastle, Maine, on May 6, 1813 to Royal
and Alice (Davis) Copeland. Located in Lincoln County, Newcastle sits about
forty miles north of Portland, yet is on a long finger of water extending to the
Atlantic coast.
Joseph's father, Royal, the 2nd child of Captain Samuel and Emma (Parker) Copeland, was born August 11, 1790, in either Maine or New Hampshire. Samuel had fought in the Revolutionary War. Joseph's mother, Alice, was born in Wiscasset, Maine, on February 9, 1797. She had been orphaned at an early age and was raised by her mother's sister, Mrs. Tarr. In a letter to his children, Joseph's brother writes about his parents' meeting,
"When my father was 21 years old he started out to seek a fortune for himself. He went down to Wiscasset. The first job he got was up on one of the rivers to cut marsh hay and when he finished that job he hired out to a farmer near the river by the name of Joseph Tarr. Mrs. Tarr had a niece living with her by the name of Alice Davis, a girl 16 years old and her parents were dead. She was a strong husky girl, could climb a tree and ride horseback and my father fell in love with the girl and married her..."
Royal, a farmer, and Alice were married in Newcastle, about 1812, 8 years before Maine became a state.
Joseph was the eldest of 11 children - 7 boys and 4 girls:
Joseph Tarr Copeland born May 6, 1813
Emeline Copeland born August 27, 1816
Alice Copeland born October 11, 1817
Samuel Copeland born November 25, 1819
Royal Franklin Copeland born December 4, 1821
Edwin Ruthven Copeland born April 5, 1824
Lucinda Safford Copeland born May 9, 1825
Mary Elizabeth Copeland born January 4, 1828
Daniel Lambart Copeland born April 11, 1833
Alpheus Crosby Copeland born May 1, 1834
Roscoe Pulaski Copeland born March 6, 1838
In about 1818 the family moved to Dexter, Maine, where Joseph's eight youngest siblings were born. Unfortunately, both Lucinda Safford and Mary Elizabeth died before their tenth birthdays.
The Copeland's family was not well off, but when he died, Joseph's grandfather left him five hundred dollars to get an education. Joseph attended and graduated from Harvard College (now University). Established in 1817, Harvard is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Upon graduation Copeland began studying law with Daniel Webster at his Boston law firm. At the time Webster was one of the most celebrated lawyers in the country. He had been elected a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts in 1827 and was re-elected in 1833. Webster was also one of several Whig candidates for President in 1836. While with Webster, it is rumored that Copeland was sent to Michigan on a "secret mission" by President Andrew Jackson.
Eventually, Joseph returned to Maine. He enlisted as Ensign of the 1st Co. of Riflemen, 3rd Regiment, 1st Brigade of Militia of Maine, on December 20, 1834. He became Captain of the same on April 16, 1838; Major in July 1838; and Colonel on June 28, 1839. Joseph may well have played a role in the bloodless Aroostook War, an 1839 boundary dispute between New Brunswick and Maine. Coincidentally, Daniel Webster negotiated a compromise that averted actual fighting. Always one to be as busy as possible, Copeland was appointed a Justice of the Peace in Maine on February 12, 1835 and again February 6, 1838. He also served as Postmaster of North New Portland, Maine in 1837.
Joseph married Mary Jane Wilson, daughter of Robert & Margaret Wilson, on July 19, 1835. They had three children:
Frederick Augustus born June 6, 1836, in Dexter, Penobscot, Maine
Florence Hortense born May 9, 1840, in New Portland, Maine
Agnes Theresa born June 10, 1842, in New Portland, Maine
The Judicial Years
At some point after the birth of Agnes in 1842, Joseph Tarr Copeland and his family moved to Michigan. They settled in St. Clair in 1844; there Joseph began a law practice. They were not the first in the family to relocate; Joseph's uncle Chauncey Copeland made the journey in 1834. Eventually, Joseph's parents and at least two of his brothers' families ended up living near Dexter, Michigan.
"They (Joseph's aunts and uncles) all lived near the old farm until 1834 when Uncle Chauncy went to Mich with his own team in a covered wagon and settled on a farm at Stoney Creek... Broth. Edwin went to Stoney Creek in 1845. In the spring of 1847 Uncle Chauncy came to Maine to get father to come to Mich. So father and mother thought they had better go. Joseph went before Edwin and settled in St. Clare (sic) and was elected probate judge. The whole family had the western fever."
In 1846, a system of county courts was created by the Michigan legislature with jurisdiction of claims in excess of those within a justice's jurisdiction, and not above $500. They also had appellate jurisdiction from justices' courts. The county courts were presided over by two judges elected for a term of four years, called respectively county judge and second judge, both who were paid by fees. On November 3, 1846 Joseph T. Copeland was elected St. Clair county judge and Z. W. Bunce second judge.
Seemingly a one-man political machine, Copeland was made Deputy Collector and Inspector of Revenue for St. Clair County in 1848. In 1849 he became St. Clair's Master of Chancery and was also elected Senator, serving one term (1850-51) in the state legislature. He further became the first president of the village of St. Clair in 1850, and its treasurer in 1851.
Under the constitution of 1850 the county courts were abolished and Michigan was divided into circuits composed of one or more counties, with a judge in each to be elected for a term of six years with an annual salary of $1,500. There were six circuits in the state, and the six circuit judges formed the Michigan Supreme Court. St. Clair County was included in the Sixth Judicial District, composed of Oakland, Macomb, St. Clair and Sanilac counties. Naturally, Copeland was elected Circuit Judge and concurrently became the 14th Michigan Supreme Court Justice.
In 1851, after his election as Circuit Judge, Joseph and his family moved to Pontiac, which was within the same judicial district. Copeland was becoming increasingly interested in a lumber enterprise and arranged with Judge Sanford M. Green so that the latter held most of the terms of court in St. Clair County, in addition to holding court in his own district. Beginning in 1854, Copeland began amassing timberland in Midland, Saginaw, Bay, Ogemaw, and Gladwin counties. During the next six years he purchased over 6,370 acres from the U.S. Government and may have purchased additional land from private owners. He reportedly built the first sawmill in Bay City. The 1870 Census notes that two of Joseph's brothers, Royal Franklin and Roscoe Pulaski, are "lumber dealers" near Dexter, each with considerable wealth. Perhaps influenced by his famous uncle, Roscoe's son Royal eventually became Mayor of nearby Ann Arbor and ultimately a U.S. Senator from New York.
"David Burton (Joseph's brother-in-law, husband of Emeline) and family came to Mich in 1852 and bought a farm on the hill up the lane 80 rods west of our (Joseph's brother Roscoe) farm in Scio Township... He lived there three or four years and then moved to Midland county about forty miles from Saganaw (sic). The winter before he and Alphous had been up there to work in a lumber camp that was owned by Joseph and son. He liked the country and bought 160 acres of new land. The next winter after they moved mother and I made them a visit. At that time brother Frank and Samuel were living in Saganaw. Joseph and Samuel had a saw mill and got their pine timber up the river near where Burton located and when we made that first visit Frank and wife went with us. From Saganaw one went up the river on the ice as that was the main road in the winter to get back and forth from their lumber camp."
Judge Copeland delivered but few opinions while a member of the Supreme Court, and these are marked by brevity, a good vein of reasoning, and few references to authority. During this time his health was poor and Copeland ultimately resigned his position as Circuit and Supreme Court Judge in 1857, before the expiration of his term. Judge Green was elected to replace him.
Upon his retirement from the bench, Copeland moved to West Bloomfield
Township, and in 1858 built the elaborate, Gothic Revival house that has always
been referred to as "the castle" on the north shore of Orchard Lake.
On October 6, 1858 Joseph's daughter Florence married English-born Dr. John P.
Wilson, who practiced surgery in Pontiac. Together they had four children. The
1860 Federal Census shows Copeland to be the fourth-richest head of household in
West Bloomfield Township, with real estate holdings valued at $15,000. In 1860,
ever active, he was also a member of the board of Visitors to the Military
Academy at West Point. Joseph's only son, Frederick, married Harriet Drake
Talbot, in Pontiac, Michigan on May 6, 1860. The following year, on January 13,
1861, Joseph's father, Royal, died in Dexter, Michigan.
"I well remember the first sail boats on Orchard Lake," Willis Ward recalled. "They belonged to General Copeland. He had two of them, the smaller one of which had been dismantled and was drawn up on the beach. It was his first sail boat. He was sailing the larger boat which was a sloop. He didn't do very much sailing, however, and I imagine these boats were rather clumsy and not very fast. They were black, being covered with pitch, and I remember my brother getting well tarred up playing around the smaller boat on the beach, greatly to my mother's disgust."