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

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supposed to be the highest land in the settled part of Michigan. Within
the limits of the township, the water courses run both north and south.
Pettibone creek heads in section io and runs south, and a branch of
Buckhorn creek rises in section 3 and courses north, the sources of
these streams being only about a mile apart. There are twenty-two
small bodies of water in the township, by courtesy designated as lakes,
the largest of which are Duck, Pettibone, Alderman, Highland, Woodruff and Kellogg.
FIRST SETTLERS
The first purchase of lands in what now constitutes Highland township was made by Naham Curtis on the 6th of September, I832, in the
east half of the southeast quarter of 36, or in the extreme southeast corner
of the township. He and his brother, Jeremiah, sold their property
soon afterward and left for Illinois with a colony of Mormons.
Among those who came in I833, Jonathan F. Stratton, an Erie county
(Penn.) man, was most prominent. He settled on the south half of
the northwest quarter of section 27, and was elected the first justice of
the peace of the tbwnship two years later. Michael Beach arrived from
Troy township, the next year (1834), and bought land just west of the
present village of Highland in sections 21 and 28.
HIGHLAND POSTOFFICE AND STATION
Probably as early as 1835 Zenas Phelps, George Lee and others settled on sections I9, 20, 29 and 30, in the southwestern part of the township, where a postoffice was established tenyears later, with George
Showerman as postmaster. This is now known as West Highland, or
Highland postoffice.
Other settlers located at various points in the township previous to
the platting of Spring Mills, in 1846, by Jonas G. Potter and Major F.
Lockwood, on the southeast quarter of section 22. In the summer of
that year the proprietors erected a sawmill. In 1857 a postoffice was
established here. Enos Leek was appointed postmaster and held the
office until January i, I874, when the name was changed and the office
moved to Highland Station.
On the completion of the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad, in 1871,
Highland village was platted by German St. John and Almon Ruggles
on portions of sections 22 and 27. As stated, the postoffice was moved
from Spring Mills in I874. Although for some years afterward it
looked as though quite a village might spring up at this point, the promise
was not fulfilled. The postoffice is now at West Highland, about two
miles from the Station.
VILLAGE OF CLYDE
In the late thirties Morris Wheeler purchased some eight hundred
acres of land for Phineas Davis, a speculator, in sections I, 2, Io and
II, which included the present site of Clyde, the only considerable settlement in Highland township. John Wendell put up the first house