(P.7) That portion of the history of Howell township which is of interest to us is mainly included in the years which have elapsed since the white man found a home here, still no history would be complete without at least a passing glance at the territory when under the domain of the red man alone. This township was border territory between the domains of the Pottawattamies and Saginaw Chippewas although more especially within the territory of the latter tribe. No special feuds seem to have existed between these nations and in fact this territory was little more than their summer hunting ground where temporary villages were erected near which the squaws raised their corn, maize, beans and pumpkins. As fall came on they mostly left this section for their more permanent villages in the vicinity or Flint and Shiawesseetown.

     The tribe was scattered and badly broken up as a result of their alliance with the English in the war of 1812, and early settlers found only roving bands of the tribe who had been the principal occupants of this territory. According to traditions of the Chippewas, this section was occupied previous to their ownership, by the Sauks, a warlike tribe which was (Pg. 8) much hated by them and who were completely destroyed by an alliance of the Chippewas, Pottawattamies and Ottawas, by a series of massacres following a great massacre of their principal village on the Saginaw river, from which only twelve women were spared. The only warriors to escape the tomahawk were a few who fled to their canoes and paddled across the lake. An Indian burying ground on the farm of Ira Brayton, probably used by the Sauks was thus described by Elisha H. Smith, in 1868: "On the north-west quarter of section twenty-two there are several places of burial. Judging from the appearance of the mounds where they were interred, they commenced burying their dead at the top of the ground, covering the corpse with earth. They then placed other bodies above this one, until the mound was several feet high. Several of these mounds have been opened for phrenological observation. Their traits of character were found similar to those who lived here at the time of the settlement by the whites. They were buried with their heads in a south-easterly direction. The Indians who lived here at the time the mounds were opened, had no knowledge of them. On the exposure of the bones to the atmosphere, they would soon decompose." The poor Chippewas were in constant dread of the spirits of the exterminated Sauks. If misfortune befel them, if their traps failed to hold the game or if their rifles failed to shoot accurately, it was the spirits of the Sauks and nothing (P. 9) could they accomplish until the medicine men had been brought and the poor spirits either set at rest or otherwise quieted.

     Several Indian trails ran in this section, the most important of which was the Grand River trail which took much the general direction of the gravel road in after years, except that north of this place it bore a little more northerly. A fork of the trail joined it near the present village of Howell, running in from the Indian village near Shiawasseetown. It was mostly along the trail from Detroit that the early pioneers found their way to Howell and neighboring points.

     Early claim to this section passed back and fourth with the claims of French and English to Detroit and Michilmackinac. At the close of the Revolution, English officers were instrumental in securing an alliance of most of the Indians of the north west and an effort was made to hold the territory under English rule. General Anthony Wayne was sent with a body of troops, into what is now Ohio and after a few victories, he succeeded in bringing the Indians to terms.

     His treaty of Greenville, in 1695, was the first agreement between the United States and Indians, relative to the land which now forms Howell. By this treaty the Indians simply became subjects of the United States, acknowledged their territory a part of the United States, and placed themselves under the protection of this government. In June, 1796, the forts of Detroit and Mackinaw were surrendered and (P.10) English rule over this territory ceased except for a short time during the war of 1812. The Northwest Territory embraced this section from that time until 1800 when it became part of the new territory of Indiana. In 1805 the territory of Michigan was organized and William Hull was made its first governor.

     The township of Howell, with all the land in this section of Michigan, was embraced in the territory ceded by the Indians to the United States government by a treaty at Detroit; on November 17th, 1807, and its remaining so long without settlement is no doubt owing to the fact that a government surveyor sent to Michigan in 1815, with an idea of giving one hundred and sixty acres of land to each soldier of the Revolution, reported that "not one acre out of a hundred, if there would be one out of a thousand, that would in any case admit of cultivation." Governor Lewis Cass failed to believe this report and having secured the proper assistance, in 1819 made an exploration which largely quieted the bad impression which prevailed.

      Several townships of this county had white settlers before Howell; Putnam leading with the man whose name it bears, in 1828.

     This township formed a part of Wayne county, after its organization until January 15, 1818, when it became a part of Macomb county. It was a part of Oakland county from January 12, 1819 until September 10, 1822, when it was placed with Shiawassee county where it remained until the laying out of Livingston county, March 21, 1834, but the organization of this county was not perfected until March 24, 1836.