In Samuel Axford we see a self-made man. The oldest of a family of thirteen children, he was born August 6, 1809, in what was then known as the " Long Point" country, in the present province of Ontario. His parents were natives of New Jersey, and had removed to Canada to better their condition in life. His father's name was Samuel, and his mother's maiden name was Rachel Morgan, she being a niece of the General Morgan of Revolutionary fame. The reports of the fertility of the Peninsular Territory reaching them, they were induced to leave Canada in May, 1823, to seek a home in this new land. They settled in the town of Shelby, Macomb county, and there for ten years Samuel found a pioneer's home; then in 1833, he entered the present township of Oxford, being the third settler in the town. He purchased one hundred and sixty acres of government land, and this he set about improving as fast as his limited means would permit, not neglecting to cultivate his mind, and to gain in a measure that education which w^as denied him by the privations of his youth. The education thus obtained is what fitted him for the public positions which he afterwards held.

In 1835 he was united in matrimony with Phoebe Summers, of Macomb county, Michigan, by whom he has had eight children, all but one living at the present time.

Mr. Axford has always taken a warm interest in public matters, being in his political predilections a Democrat, assisting in the organization of Oxford township, and has held nearly every office in the gift of his fellow townsmen. In 1841 he was elected to the Michigan legislature, where he served his constituents with such acceptance that they successfully demanded his nomination for State senator in 1851. He was the unanimous choice of the convention. Commenting on the result, the Jacksonian said, "Personally he is endeared to all by his honest inflexibility of purpose. . . . No better nomination could have been made." He was triumphantly elected, and discharged his senatorial duties with great credit to himself and his county. Among his colleagues were Senators Christiancy, Roberts, Le Roy, and others of equal eminence. Passing out of public life, Mr. Axford continues his favorite avocation, and now resides upon the farm which he hewed out of the wilderness, respected by all, and honored as a man who has never placed self above the public good.