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.

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

441

"In 1820 the township was made a part of Oakland, which then comprised about three-fifths of the county. In 1828 it was made a part of
Pontiac township, and in 1835 was organized as a separate township and
named Orion.
"Jesse Decker was one of the assessors under the territory and had
to go clear to Saginaw in making his assessment on (here and there) a
settler. He was also the first supervisor of the town. There have been
twelve supervisors in all elected in the town, seven of whom are known
to be living (1879).
"The first general election in the town was held October 5 and 6,
1835, at which Stevens T. Mason received 36 votes and John Biddle, 7.
The first schoolhouse was built in the town in 1834; the first frame barn
in I830, by Jesse Decker, which the Indians helped raise. The first
store was opened in 1834 by John Hawkinson; the first postoffice in
1832, Jesse Decker, postmaster; the mail route was from Royal Oak to
Lapeer. Roxanna Bigler was the first person who died in the town in
I828. In I836 two persons were licensed to keep tavern in the townJesse Decker and A. Bernethy.
"In 1842 it was resolved by the electors 'to pay a bounty of ten
dollars for every wolf, half grown or over, killed in said township.' The
township expenses in 1835, the first year the town was organized,
amounted to $36.I4.
"Orion used to be a great place for lawing. Jesse Decker informed
me that while acting as justice he had issued as many as forty-two
summons in one day. So much lawing, and so independent was the
court, that it gained for the place the appellation of 'The United States
of Orion.' The first church edifice was erected in I854; the first gristmill in I836; the first railroad was built in 1872, since which time we
consider ourselves quite modernized."
As stated, Orion was separately organized in 1835. In I836 the
township was divided into four districts and log schoolhouses erected to
accommodate them. Later, the village of New Canandaigua (Orion)
built its first schoolhouse-quite a pretentious frame house for those
times (1844).
A TOWNSHIP OF LAKES
Orion is one of the great lake townships of Oakland county, the
estimate being that seventeen hundred acres are covered by them; when
to this area is added seven or eight hundred acres of low, or marsh land,
it is evident that considerable of the surface is untillable. But, as has
neen fully demonstrated in the opening chapter of this history, the pretty
lakes and ponds of any section have long since been figured as a valuable
asset for the people in the way of a basis for the settings, or prime
attractions, for summer resort improvements. What has been accomplished on the shores of beautiful Lake Orion has already been described.
Among other lakes well known and appreciated by lovers of the great
out-of-doors are Judah, Voorheis, Mill, Sixteen (in that section), Square,
Long and Buckhorn. The chain of lakes in Orion township stretches
generally from southwest to northeast, with Paint creek as a common