The Sipperley family came to Oakland County from New York in 1835, while Michigan was still a territory. John and Elizabeth Sipperley made their home in Troy Township, where their son, Erastus H., was born in 1836. Erastus worked on his father's farm until August 1862, when he entered service in the Union army with the 22nd Michigan Volunteer Infantry. His regiment was assigned to the pursuit of the Confederate general Braxton Bragg, and suffered heavy losses at the battle of Chickamauga, but Sipperley himself escaped harm and returned to Oakland County at the close of the war.
In 1870, Erastus Sipperley married Annette Evritt and moved from his father's farm to a parcel of land in section 13, Avon Township, where he built the house shown here as a family residence. The couple reared eight children here.
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| Erastus Sipperley house as it looked in 1907 |
An 1891 local history book entitled Portrait and Biographical Album of Oakland County, Michigan had this to say about the Erastus Sipperley farm:
One of the most attractive farms in Avon township is owned and occupied by this gentleman [Erastus Sipperley] . The home place consists of one hundred acres, which are cultivated in a careful and intelligent manner and have their fertility kept at par by a judicious rotation of crops and the use of drainage of fertilizing agencies when necessary. A complete line of farm buildings stands upon the estate, modern machinery is in use during the season of planting and reaping, and the stock of high grade grazes in the pastures. The dwelling is of unusually pleasing design, is a model of neatness and comfort, and in its surroundings gives evidence of the refined taste of the family. It was built in 1885.Erastus Sipperley died in 1920 and is buried in Mount Avon Cemetery. His home on Bloomer Road is 128 years old this year.
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