Original Highland Township Landowner John McCormick Little is known about this man beyond his name and the fact his patent gives his residence as Washtenaw County, Michigan. A John McCormick settled at what is now Dixboro, Washtenaw County, in 1825. In 1828 this part of Washtenaw County was organized as Panama Township (now Superior and Salem Townships), with the first town meeting held at his home, See: Samuel W. Beakes, Past and Present of Washtenaw County, Michigan, S. J. Clark Publishing Co. (1906), pp. 569, 790. Per the 1830 Census John McCormick of Dixboro/Panama Township is the only man by that name in all of Michigan. Note, however, that John McCormick of Dixboro died September 12, 1833, and is buried at Oak Grove a/k/a Dixboro Cemetery. He accordingly cannot be the man who purchased land in Highland on June 30, 1835. The 1840 Census shows two John McCormicks living in Washtenaw County. The younger man living in Superior Township (which includes Dixboro) is probably John McCormick, Jr., born circa 1816; son of man who died in 1833. The other, older John McCormick is found in Salem Township. He and his brothers Samuel and Robert are said to have settled there in 1828 and apparently belong to an entirely different family. It is tempting to assume the older and presumably more "established" John McCormick of Salem would be the one who purchased land in Highland. Whichever John McCormick it was, however, there is no evidence he ever settled on the property. On the contrary, Durant's History of Oakland County, p. 200, indicates he sold it around 1836-37 to Michael Beach, who owned adjoining property to the west. The parcel was later owned by his son Benjamin Franklin Beach. |
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