My Genealogy Hound

Hon. Joseph S. Stockwell, whose portrait* accompanies this sketch, was for a great many years one of the most prosperous merchants of Pontiac. He is at the present time judge of the Probate Court of Oakland County. He is a man of recognized ability and enjoys the confidence and respect of the people to a marked degree.

Judge Stockwell was born at Redford, Wayne County, Michigan, May 16, 1843, and is a son of Alva and Samantha (Hewitt) Stockwell. His father, who was born in 1801, removed from Cayuga County, New York, to Wayne County, Michigan, in 1832, and passed the remainder of his life there, engaged in agricultural pursuits. He died in 1877, at the age of 76 years. His wife died when our subject was six months old, leaving nine children, as follows: Mrs. Harriet L. Stanton, of Detroit; Mrs. G. L. Walker, of Flint, Michigan; Albert E., of Paola, Kansas; William, of Osawatomie, Kansas; Orson P. and George H., both of whom died in Kansas; Mrs. J. H. Little, who died in Bay City, Michigan; Mrs. T. H. Powers, who died in Bloomfield township, Oakland County; and Joseph S.

Joseph S. Stockwell was educated in the public schools of Wayne County, and at Farmington, Oxford and Birmingham, Oakland County, and upon leaving school began clerking in the mercantile establishment of J. J. Green. He has been a resident of Oakland County ever since locating in Birmingham in 1864, also residing a portion of the time at Highland. He has been a resident of Pontiac continuously since 1881, in that year entering the dry goods business here as a member of the firm of Axford, Stockwell & Company. Three years later he purchased the interests of his partners and conducted the business alone until 1895, when he sold a part interest to Waite Brothers, Robertson & Company, remaining a silent partner in the firm until 1901, when he disposed of his interest. In the fall of 1900 he was elected judge of the Probate Court of Oakland County, and has been discharging the duties of that office since January, 1901. He appointed E. E. Blakeslee as probate clerk. Until he entered upon his present office, for a period of 15 years he served as county superintendent of the poor in a most satisfactory manner.

In 1866, Judge Stockwell was married to Mary E. Wiley, of Southfield, Oakland County, her family having come here from Vermont, and to this union were born four sons, as follows: Fred B., with Edson, Moore & Company, of Detroit; Joseph S., Jr., secretary and manager of the Crescent Carriage Company; A. Ross, who graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan in 1901, and is junior member of the law firm of Perry & Stockwell, of Pontiac; and Dr. Glenn W., a graduate of the Detroit College of Medicine, who is house physician at the Detroit Hospital. In politics, our subject is a stanch Republican. Fraternally, he is a member of the Independent Order of Foresters, and a Mason of high standing, being a member of the blue lodge, Chapter, Pontiac Commandery No. 2, Knights Templar, of which he is secretary, and the Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Detroit. In religious belief, he and his family are Baptists. The family home is at No. 20 Williams street, Pontiac.

*Editor's note: Portrait was included in the original printed book.