My Genealogy Hound

OAKLAND COUNTY.

It would be interesting in taking up a history of Oakland County, to include in it that of the Commonwealth of Michigan, and to dwell upon those interesting events in its early settlement, which prepared the way for the future development of all sections of the State. Oakland County was organized in 1820 and stands pre-eminent as being the earliest settled of any interior county in the Territory. For many years it ranked second only to Wayne in importance, and still retains its proud position as leader in agricultural products. With its 576,000 acres, with its abundance of pure, fresh water and consequent pure, invigorating air, with its unequaled transportation facilities, its rich farming districts and its natural beauties of scenery, it is not a matter of wonder that Oakland County also ranks high in morality, education and enlightened citizenship.

The events of the war of 1812 in what is now Michigan were quite disastrous to the American cause, but they served to turn the attention of the East more surely to the great West, and the hardy pioneers in the succeeding years soon found in the superior richness of the soil of what is now Oakland County a sufficient inducement to dare the craft of the Indian and the hard conditions of life far from civilization. The opening of the Erie Canal, in 1825, made transportation possible from the Eastern coast and since that waterway was given to the public until the present time, when steam and electricity have brought settlers hither from every direction, Oakland County has been an attractive point. With its 500 lakes it attracts the tourist and the lover of natural scenery, while its unabated fruitfulness has kept it one of the most desirable counties in the whole United States for the enthusiastic agriculturist.

For several years after the organization of Oakland County, the Indians were quite numerous and local history teems with romance and adventure for some years, the savages finally entering into peace compacts and gradually passing westward. By the time Michigan had been admitted to Statehood in 1837, Oakland county had become a very important section of the commonwealth, and the history of the State will show that many of her most distinguished sons have been born and reared in this favored county.

The general surface of Oakland County is from 300 to 400 feet above the level of the Great Lakes. In this county four, noble rivers have their rise, — the Clinton, the Huron, the Rouge and the Shiawassee, which flow out in four different directions, watering and enriching their banks, emptying into Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River, Lake Erie and Saginaw Bay. The beautiful summer homes of many of the multi-millionaires are located on the beautiful and picturesque shores of one or other of these inland lakes, whose beauty must be seen to be appreciated and whose charm and healthfulness are beyond all telling. In this region existed the hunting grounds of that heroic character, the great Ottawa chieftain, Pontiac, and in these solitudes he passed the last years of a most eventful life, one which left its mark on this whole locality and which is commemorated here.

The importance of good roads and of increased transportation facilities soon became apparent to the settlers in Oakland County and they encouraged the improvement of the Clinton River and as early as 1827 the Clinton River Navigation Company was organized. In 1834 a horse power railroad was built from Detroit to Royal Oak, under a charter as the Detroit & Pontiac Railroad, and in 1839 steam power was introduced and the road extended to Birmingham, and in 1843 continued to Pontiac, the county seat of Oakland. While, in the light of the county’s present exceptional transportation facilities, these primitive affairs seem small and inadequate, at that time they represented wonderful progressiveness. The first electric road in Oakland County was the Pontiac and Sylvan Lake, this being soon followed by the Detroit & Pontiac line, and subsequently by the Detroit & Northwestern, the Detroit, Rochester, Romeo & Lake Orion, the Pontiac & Flint, and many later lines, so that now the towns and rich farming districts are in close touch with the State metropolis and the outside world.

Not everyone can be born in Oakland County, and not everyone can reside here or even visit its beautiful hills, dales and placid, smiling lakes, but those who sigh for a home where industry is repaid a thousand fold, or those who long for the pictured natural beauties of other lands, can find within the borders of this favored part of the old Wolverine State the aim of their ambition and the delight which contents a real lover of nature under her most alluring aspects.

For data of Oakland County, acknowledgment is made to J. E. Sawyer, of Pontiac, Michigan, who is one of the city’s prominent and representative citizens.