Bigler Cemetery/Philip Bigler

In July 1825, not long after Philip Bigler (1793-1839) settled here, he sectioned off a corner of his property to bury his infant daughter Rocksina. Although other early residents of Oakland County were buried here, the property became known as Bigler Cemetery. Those inten-ed here included three veterans of the War of 1812 and two of the American Civil War. In 1865 Allen Brewster, Adam Perry, John Howarth, and Dennison Giddings formed the Orion and Oakland Burial Society and purchased this cemetery. Philip Bigler Philip Bigler and his family settled in Oakland Township in 1825. He joined Jesse Decker, Jacob Bigler, Samuel Munson, and John McAlvey in establishing Decker Settlement in 1825. Between 1826 and 1833 he purchased nine land patents in Oakland Township, totaling 920 acres. Bigler and his wife, Mary Polly Decker, had eleven children. Only seven survived to adulthood. Bigler served the township as supervisor, director of the poor, assessor, and director of highways. In 1831 he introduced a blooded horse to the township for breeding superior stock.