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 IV

FIRST SETTLERS AND LAND OWNERS
GREAT SET-BACK TO SETTLEMENT-OAKLAND COUNTY'S FIRST SETTLERS
-THE MACK COLONY OF PONTIAC-"UNCLE BEN" WOODWORTH-FIRST SURVEYS-LOCATIONS UNDER THE "TWO DOLLAR" ACTTHE "TEN SHILLING" ACT-GREAT EVENT FOR THE PIONEER LAND
OWNER-TOWN OF PONTIAC SETTLED-ORION AND OXFORD-ROYAL
OAK AND TROY-AVON AND WHITE LAKE-SPRINGFIELD AND GROVELAND-FARMINGTON AND WEST BLOOMFIELD-WATERFORD AND INDEPENDENCE-BRANDON, SOUTHFIELD AND BLOOMFIELD.
Any general history will inform the reader as to the nature of the
civil or judicial jurisdiction which was theoretically exercised over the
territory now recognized as Oakland county, but humanly speaking we
have no vital interest in the subject until men, women and children commenced to appear and form households in the new country. This happened about two years after the state surveys commenced in southern
Michigan, the pioneers in the Oakland county movement being James
Graham, his son Alexander, Christopher Hartsough and John Hersey.
They located in the township now known as Avon on the I7th day of
March, 1817, and brought their families with them.
GREAT SET-BACK TO SETTLEMENT
It took so many years to counteract the report made by the surveyor
general in relation to the military, or southern Michigan lands, that a
somewhat extended review of the attending circumstances seems germane
to the subject. On the 6th of May, I812, congress passed an act requiring that two million acres of land should be surveyed in the then territory
of Louisiana; a like quantity in the territory of Illinois, as well as in the
territory of Michigan-in all, six million acres, to be set apart for the
soldiers of America in the war of 1812. The lands were surveyed
and appropriated, under this law, in Louisiana and Illinois, but the
surveyors reported that there were no lands fit for cultivation. The principal meridian and the base line for the Michigan surveys were established in I8I5.
The surveyor general's report which so long retarded immigration to
southern Michigan and Oakland county was as follows: "The country
on the Indian boundary line from the mouth of the Great Auglaize river
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