After the land had been relinquished by the Indians, and before any white man could legally settle in Michigan, the land had to be surveyed by federal surveyors. The tremendous task of literally walking over the entire surface of Michigan and marking township and section corners at half mile intervals began in earnest in 1815. Then Lewis Cass, who became the governor of the Territory of Michigan after the War of 1812, ventured out beyond Detroit to see the beautiful and fertile land of Oakland county, dispelling the previous notion that Michigan was the "home of every species of malarial disease, a land of irreclaimable swamps and sand hills."

In 1823 S. Sibley and his party surveyed the Livingston side of our lake and Joseph Wampler did the Oakland side. They were probably the first white men to set foot on our land. They put government markers near trees and rocks and described those locations in their field notes. In June they suffered much from the mosquitoes, "both men and horses weak from loss of blood and want of rest." They surveyed lands which could then be purchased at the U.S. land offices in Detroit, which opened in 1818.

The map on the preceding page was done almost twenty years later by surveyor Bela Hubbard, who used those original survey maps (which stand today with minor corrections) and added cultural details. Notice the "proposed state road" (the former Shiawassee Trail?); Dunham Lake (then called Andrus Lake) in the middle of the map referred to as a "bed of marl;" Elijah Dunham's residence, east of the lake on the Fentonville to Ann Arbor State road. You can also note that the area was lightly timbered.

First Settler

The following letter is based on historical research and could have been written by early settler Elijah Dunham on July 9, 1835.

"Dear Future Lake Residents: Today is such a wonderful day! I just bought 160 acres on the east side of the north end of your beautiful lake. We will be so happy here! This is where we'll build our home. We were very lucky that no one else had claimed any of the lake property yet. Land buyers are going crazy, even buying land they have never seen! I myself have purchased over 600 acres in Highland. President Van Buren of the U.S. Government is charging $1.25 an acre, cash. Most everything is taken between here and Detroit. This period of land speculation can't last. [Writer's note: In 1837 the great Great Depression occurred.]

            "I guess I'd better introduce myself. I'm Elijah Dunham, a 35 year-old farmer from Monroe County, New York. My wife Sally is here with our children, Eben, 20; John, 15; Elizabeth, 10; and little baby Sarah, who is only 15 months old. [Editor's note: In the 1850 census for Highland Township, Elijah is listed with wife Sally and daughter Sarah. The other children mentioned here are not listed. Eben and John were the children of Daniel Dunham. I have not been able to find a good genealogy of the Dunham family.] We've stayed long enough with my brother and his family, Daniel and Harriet Dunham. They came three years ago with the original group of 14 settlers to Highland, including Jesse Tenny, John Morse and Eli Lee. They all settled near each other -- the Tenny Settlement -- just west of the stone barn on Lone Tree Road, near the first schoolhouse.

            "When my brother wrote to me stating how wonderful Highland was, I came to help and to look the area over, arriving late in 1833. The rest of my family stayed behind because Sally was pregnant. His letters were right. The few remaining Indians were no threat. In fact, they even helped by furnishing game, deerskin, turkeys, honey, and baskets. Some settlers even let them borrow guns to hunt with and the Indians brought back some game in exchange. And there are abundant bear, turkey, lynx, wolves, fish, berries, lakes and streams. The land is amazingly ready for farming. Annual fires had previously swept the land, so there are lots of clearings with grass for the cattle. The black, gravelly loam is good for growing wheat and is easy to work.

            Those first pioneer families of I 833 built temporary shelters to live in during the summer while some of the land was cleared and permanent log cabins were erected. Some used a blanket as a door at first. They had to throw live coals at the wolves to keep them from entering the cabin. The wolves prowled around the house and made the night hideously frightening with their cries. Twelve Baptists from the area met in Jesse Tenny's home and invited representatives from other Baptist churches to meet with them and officiaIly form our church. On January 16, 1834 representatives came on horseback, oxcart, and on foot and they formed the Highland Baptist Church. It was the first of any denomination to be formed in this section of the state. Brother Daniel was appointed the first deacon. The day before the meeting, it was necessary for Jesse, Noah Morse, and me to go to the Dexter mill thirty miles away. In order to get back in time, we traveled most of the night, reaching home at 3 a.m.! Usually two days were allowed for the trip. I returned to Monroe County and brought my family back to Highland in the fall of 1834. Thank goodness for the Erie Canal that opened via Buffalo in 1825 and for the steamships that crossed Lake Erie. That all-water route connecting New York City to Michigan saved us pioneers lots of time and money. No wonder one-third of Michigan folk are from New York!

            We checked on the available land at the Detroit land office while we were there and bought some supplies and then took our ox team out the Grand River ‘turnpike.’ Actually it's just a trail worn deep by the Chicago stagecoaches. We spent a restless night at Hannibel Tavern in Farmington and then headed northwest with only the old Shiawassee Indian trail to guide us. There was no road, we just wandered through the openings, constantly cutting with the ax to clear a trail for the oxen. At night we camped. We kept the fire going to keep the wolves away. All our older children have been baptized back in New York, but Sarah will probably be baptized right in our own lake, as everyone is. If it is winter, a rectangular place 20 or 30 feet long and half as wide is chopped in the ice where the water is of suitable depth, and steps are made for the convenience of getting in and out. One does not wait for warmer weather but is baptized immediately upon confession of faith. I never heard of any ill effects from the experience to either candidate or preacher. [Writer's note: Baptisms were held in Dunham Lake all year around until J 880 when a baptistery was built at West Highland Baptist Church.] This year Highland was designated a township, the first meeting being at the schoolhouse. It was named Highland because it is believed to be the highest land in the settled part of Michigan. Nearby Highland Corners at the corner of the Pontiac-Howell Road and Hickory Ridge is a small hamlet now, but it will grow, I am sure. Who knows, in a few years, this territory might even become a state!”

Other Early Settlers

Justus and Sarah Andrus also owned a quarter-section on the lake. For many years the lake was known as Andrus Lake. Lakes were named for their shape or for the family owning the land beneath the water. Justus' father and brother were both Baptist ministers, and his family were members of Highland Baptist Church. Baptisms occurred at the Dunham and Andrus ends of the lake. The youngest son, Henry C., fought in the Civil War and married Amelia Ann Curdy, daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Lockwood) Curdv. Oel Chambers came from Monroe county via Detroit with his ox team. He reported that there were no roads, and that the surrounding country was a continuous stretch of black soil--the result of fires that had swept vegetation for years previous. I-lis services as a carpenter were in special demand; he was summoned to a raising every day. He opened a general store in Hartland in the 1850's.

James and Tryphosa Ellis must have bought a very undesirable piece of land as they received a patented deed from the government as late as 1850.

Hubbard and Mary Bullard's land is really outside the area of our history but is included because their family (and that of John Williams') histories are so intertwined with the others. Hubbard accomplished his whole journey from New York with his four yoke of oxen. He stayed at the home of Eli Lee until his own was completed. Eli's was constantly the rendezvous of land-lookers because he settled in 1833. He was the Highland-Hartland border and on the Pontiac-Howell road (southwest corner). His floor was often covered at night with slumbering forms. Hubbard helped break the ground of neighboring settlers for years. He helped erect the first log school house in Hartland in 1836, located on what is now Dunham Road, one quarter mile 'west of Fenton Road_ (This school has been remodeled into a private home.) Their daughter Martha later married young Adolphus Carey and their daughter Alice married as her second husband, the brother of Adolphus, Albert Carey. Another daughter, Sarah, married Henry L Tetmy, one of the sons of Rufus Tenny, who built the second saw mi11 on Ore Creek in Hartland in 1837. Ore Creek is fed by Dunham and Whalen Lakes. The millpond became known as Bullard Lake. The lumber came from the oaks and hickories of the early settlers' land.

John and Sarah Williams were the parents of Mary Bullard. John, born in 1780, lost a limb in the War of 1812. Probably while clearing his land on Hyde Road, a tree hit him and he died in 1837. Their daughter Sarah was the first teacher at the new schoolhouse. 10 1850 their only SOO, John c., married as his second wife. Harriet (Russell) Carey. mother of Adolphus and Albert Carey. What a tangled web of relationships!

Noah Cowles was a land speculator. He soon sold his parcel to Lovell Chambers, Oel's brother. Lovell also opened a general store in Hartland in the 1850's. Dr. Josiah Clark was the second resident of Hartland to practice the healing art. Married to Sophia Perkins, he was elected township clerk at the Hartland organizational meeting in September of 1836. [Hartland was named after a township in New York.] Smallpox broke out in 1848 and he contracted the disease and died. His remains were passed through his window and placed on a land sled and buried at midnight somewhere in the Hartland cemetery. Even the sled was buried with him.