History of Oakland County, Michigan.

HI G LA N D T 0 V N S H I P.

HIIGHLAND was organized as a separate and distinct township by an act of the
Territorial legislature, approved March 17, 1835. We quote the clause relating
to the same, which is as follows:
" All that part of the county of Oakland comprised in surveyed township 3
north, range 7 east, by the name of Highland; and the first township-meeting be
held at the school-house on the farm of Jesse Tenny."
By section 3 of an act approved March 26, 1835, we find " that all that part
of the county of Oakland comprised in surveyed township 3 north, range 7 east,
and all that part of the county of Livingston attached to the county of Oakland
for judicial purposes, shall be attached to, and comprise a part of, the township of
Highland, for the purposes of township government."*
The proceedings of the first township-meeting, and other matters pertaining
thereto, will be found in the succeeding pages, in their proper chronological order.
The name " Highland" was given to the new township because of its elevated
position. Its surface was then supposed to be the highest land in the settled part
of Michigan, and is possibly as high as any south of Saginaw. The water runs
both north and south within the limits of the township. The Pettibone creek
heads in section 10 and runs south; and a branch of Buckhorn creek heads on
section 3 and runs north, the heads of these streams not being much more than
a mile apart.
The surface of the southwest part of the town is quite level, or gently rolling,
the north part more hilly, and the northeast part hilly and marshy,-a part of it
being very hilly, and aptly designated as " the knobs." The soil is mostly sandy
loam. There is a strip one mile and a half wide, commencing in section 12, and
running southwesterly to and through section 33, that is a light sandy soil, some
of it being extremely light.
THE LAKES.
The township abounds in those beautiful bodies of water designated as lakes.
There are twenty-two of these, of which the most important are Peninsular,
Grass, Duck, Curtis, and Pettibone. Most of these (the only ones designated by
names on the map) are named with reference to some local peculiarity, or after
early settlers who resided on their banks.
INDIAN HISTORY.
There are but few incidents connecting the aborigine with the history of Highland. There formerly existed within the limits of the township, on the east side
of section 34, a general camping-ground, where the Indians used to halt in their
peregrinations through the forest, and there be those who still remember the camping-ground, and the interesting scenes which its remembrance presents; they were
here when the wilderness still waved in its pristine luxuriance; when the marshhay and the wild-flowers still covered lowlands and the hill-sides, and made the
valley fragrant with their rich perfumes; when the deer continued to frequent his
ancient haunts; and when the habitations of the new settlers were so widely and so
thinly scattered that the nearest neighbors could scarcely have exchanged the
courtesy of the periodical visit without the aid of the seven-leagued boots of
knightly days. But though in solitude, they lived without fear. There were
none to molest or make them afraid. If they had few friends, they had no enemies. If the Indian halted at the settler's door it was to solicit hospitality, not
to offer violence. But more frequently he stalked silently by, timid of giving
offense to the white man, whom he doubtless regarded as an intruder upon his
own ancestral domain, but whose possession he had been taught to respect, because
he had ever found it guarded by a strong and swift arm, that had never failed to
repay aggression with tenfold vengeance.
Their trails abounded in this township; one entered it near the southeast corner of section 35, and ran nearly northwest through the township, and was called
the Shiawassee trail. This was intersected in southeast quarter of southwest

quarter of section 35 by one from the south, called Walled lake trail, which was
doubtless a by-road leading from the Grand river trail. All traces of both the
Indians and his trails are now no more. Where he once trod exists the outgrowth of modern civilization, as represented by the much-frequented roads and
the hum of a busy population.
EARLY SETTLERS.
The first purchase of land in what now constitutes Highland township was
* " Territorial Laws," vol. iii. p. 1404.
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made by Naham Curtis, September 6, 1832. It was the east half of the southeast quarter of section 36. He and his brother Jeremiah sold out soon afterwards and left with the Mormons, a small settlement of whom existed in this
neighborhood where the Curtises settled prior to 1836. James Aldrich, Richard
Willett, and Samuel Myers, Jr., purchased land in the township the same year.
Naham Curtis came to Michigan from Pennsylvania, and settled at Pontiac as
early as 1824. He had a large family, some of whom were grown up when he
settled in Highland. We believe that none of his- family now reside in the
township or county. ii
In the fall of 1833, Alvah and Rufus Tenny arrived from Wheatland, Monroe
county, New York, and purchased the soutl half of section 30, and the north
half of section 31, and returned homey Alvah's wife's friends were opposed to
his coming to Michigan, so he sold his interest to his brother Jesse, who started
fiom his home in the east in the month of February, 1833.
Rufus Tenny continued to reside on the farm he located in section 31 until
his death, which occurred in the spring of 1858, aged sixty-five. His wife,
Eunice, died in the spring of 1875, at the advanced age of eighty-one years.
Some of their descendants still occupy the old homestead. Jesse Tenny was
accompanied by John C. Morse, and came with a two-horse team through Canada,
arriving at their destination on the 7th of March of the same year.
In May, 1833, Noah P. Morse came in with his wife and father-in-law, Almer
Hyde, and his family, and commenced clearing up the farm on which he now
resides. Aimer Hyde and family, with Mr. Morse, were from the town of Norwich, New London county, Connecticut.
Among the most prominent of the early settlers of Highland was Jonathan
F. Stratton, the first justice of the peace of the township, who came from Erie
county, Pennsylvania, to Ann Arbor in 1825, and to Highland in 1833. He
settled on section 27, on the farm now owned by Chester M. Chatfield and others,
constituting the south half of the northwest quarter of the above section, and the
east half of the northeast quarter of section 28.
Michael Beach came from Troy, Oakland County, Michigan, in 1833 or 1834,
and settled on the southeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 28. He
made but a brief stay on his first purchase, for we find that he sold it to Madison
Adams in 1836-37, and subsequently purchased of the government the east half
of the southeast quarter of section 21, and of a Mr. McCormick the west half
of the northeast quarter of section 28. He settled on the lot contained in section
21, on the farm now owned and occupied by his son, Davis Beach. The lot on 28
is now owned by William E. Clark, who bought it of Benjamin Beach, another son
of the original purchaser, in 1875.
Robert Findley emigrated from Scotland with his son Alexander-then a boy,
but now a prominent citizen of Milford-and his son-in-law, Duncan McCall, in
1834, and settled on the southwest quarter of section 34. After Robert Findley's
death the land was divided, Alexander taking the south half of the quarter section, which he subsequently sold to a Mr. Pierce, of the State of New York. The
latter traded with Samuel Burtch, and it is now owned by Cornelius, a son of the
Samuel Burtch above mentioned. Mrs. McCall took the north half of the quarter section, which, after her death, was sold to T. A. Smith, and by him to J. C.
Lanning, and by him to William N. Burnett, the present owner, in the winter of
1875.
Lockwood Clark and his father, E. A. Clark, came in 1834 or 1835, and
settled on the west half of the northwest quarter of section 15, and sold to William A. Waterbury about 1845, and he to John Van Wormer, the present owner,
in 1855 or 1856.
Peter McPherson and wife emigrated from Scotland (came in with Messrs.
Findley and McCall) in 1834, and settled on the south half of the southwest
quarter of section 27, now owned by his widow and their son William.
P. W. Wheaton came from New York State in 1835. He took up the east

half of the southeast quarter of section 5 and the northeast quarter of the northeast fractional quarter of the same section, in all one hundred and thirty-six and
one-quarter acres. In 1840, after having built a house and made some other improvements on his place, he returned to New York, and brought his family to his
new home the year following. He still resides on the old homestead.
Elijah Dunham arrived from Monroe county, New York, in 1835, and took up
two eighties on section 18 and six eighties on section 17.
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