History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests / compiled from the official records of the county, the newspapers and data of personal interviews, under the editorial supervision of Thaddeus D. Seeley.

CHAPTER XXXI

ORION AND MILFORD TOWNSHIPS
ORION'S FIRST SETTLERS AND EVENTS-A TOWNSHIP OF LAKES ORION
VILLAGE CHURCHES —MILFORD TOWNSHIP FORMED-THE RUGGLES
BROTHERS-PIONEER MILLS-THE PRESENT VILLAGE —MILFORD
CHURCHES.
Orion is in the second tier of townships, directly north of Pontiac,
and was therefore a part of the original Oakland township, which, by
the proclamation of Governor Woodbridge of June, I820, included the
northern three-fifths of the county. It was one of the first sections to
be settled.
ORION'S FIRST SETTLERS AND EVENTS
Judah Church and John Wetmore made an entry of land on section
I9, in I819, and Moses Munson, Powell Carpenter, Jesse Decker, Philip
Bigler and others took up tracts in the eastern part of the township;
but actual settlement did not commence until 1825. In that year came
the leader of all the pioneers, the Jesse Decker mentioned; Munson located on section 24 and Decker on section 25 in the southeastern portion
of the township. The former built a sawmill, broke some ground and
planted the first orchard. Although Decker did not arrive until afterward and the two joined hands and fortunes, the latter proved the most
energetic and a splendid "stayer," and the result was "Decker's settlement," around which clustered the earliest associations of Orion township.
Mr. Decker was everything to everybody, as will be evident by a
casual perusal of the following brief record of the early events and
pioneers, prepared by William E. Littell for one of the first meetings of
the County Pioneer Society: "I find that the first entry of lands was
made in this township in 8I9 by Judah Church; the next by Samuel
Munson, in 1824, who in the following year built a sawmill on section
24. In the fall of the same year Jesse Decker, Philip Bigler, Jacob Bigler and John McAlvey settled in the town. Mr. Decker informed me
that at the time the timber was very scattering, being oak openings except in low places, so that he could look over the country and see a deer
run for miles.
"Elijah B. Clark and others settled in 1831, and a little later the
McVeans and others, and in I836 there was a heavy immigration in the
town.
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