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.

454

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

was in operation, but it never amounted to much on account of an insufficient water power.
In 1827 the first grist mill in the township was built by Edward and
Harman Steel in the southwest quarter of section 17, about two miles
northwest of Farmington. It has successively been known as the Steel
mill and the Hardenberg mill, and was famed throughout the entire
region.
The first grist mill at Quakertown was built by Arthur Power near
the dam which he had erected for his sawmill; but, although it continued
in operation for many years, it never attained the high standard of the
Steel mill.
The first postal facilities of the township were obtained in the fall
of 1825 through the efforts of Dr. Webb, who was himself appointed
postmaster, the office being kept in his log house at Quakertown.
The saw and grist mills of John H. Shackleton, located on the mill
stream a few rods below the center of the village. were well known
throughout the county. The water power at this point was first utilized
by Samuel Mansfield in 1833, who built a sawmill in that year. The
grist mill was afterward erected by Samuel Power at the same dam.
But neither Farmington village, nor the township, was destined to
flourish in the lines of industry. The fertile county surrounding it,
however, was settled by a prosperous class of agriculturists, and the
trade gravitating thither steadily increased.
RECOLLECTIONS OF P. DEAN WARNER
Among the numerous settlers of 1825 was Seth A. L. Warner, who
located on the northwest quarter of section 15, about two miles north
of the present village of Farmington. He was the father of P. Dean
Warner, so, prominent in the early public affairs of the township, county
and state, and the grandfather of ex-Governor Warner. The following
address of P. D. Warner, delivered before the County Pioneer Society
in I879, gives an instructive picture of the pioneer period partially
covered in the foregoing matter: "Mr. President: Nearly fifty-four
years have passed away since my father, Seth A. L. Warner, came with
his family into the territory of Michigan, and settled in what has since
been known as the township of Farmington. We were ten days in crossing the lake from Buffalo to Detroit. Our goods were taken from the
vessel, put on board of a scow, and floated down the river to the mouth
of the Rouge, and landed several miles up that stream, at a place then
called Bucklands. At that point they were loaded on to wagons that
had been sent down for that purpose by friends in Farmington, who
had settled there the year before. The wagons were drawn by oxen,
and accompanied by three or four strong and resolute young men who
had come around by way of Birmingham, the Pontiac road being the
only road leading out of Detroit at that time, except the road running
up and down the river. After the wagons were loaded and everything
ready for the journey, the young men started on ahead with their axes,
cutting the brush and small trees and cleaning out the road, and the oxen
and wagons followed on after them with my father's family and his..