The 6x6 mile square T8N-R10E, now known as Mayfield Township, was originally part of Lapeer Township, formed 30 Dec 1834. At that time, Lapeer Township included most of the county. On 9 Mar 1843 Mayfield Township was formed. The population was low, and on 15 Mar 1849 Mayfield was made part of Lapeer Township again. Then on 13 Mar 1869 Mayfield was its own township again, and has remained so since then.

The first settler in Mayfield was Asahel W. ABBOTT, a shoemaker, who came in 1833 and settled on section 33, near the city of Lapeer. He was followed in the same year by Samuel MERLIN and Christopher LOGAN from Oakland County. MERLIN settled in section 28 and LOGAN in sections 28 and 29.

The map above shows no communities in 1863, in what would later be Mayfield. The city of Lapeer was in the southern half.

1874 map of Mayfield Township (T8N-R10E) from the 1874 Atlas of Lapeer County.
Click for a larger image.

By 1874 the villlages of Millville and FIsh Lake had sprung up, each on a railroad passing through Lapeer. The city of Lapeer had begun to spill over into Mayfield.

In 1893 the community of Fish Lake had vanished, and a new community called Five Lakes appeared in the northeast corner. Millville was still going strong, and the city of Lapeer continued spilling over into Mayfield.

The community of Millville no longer exists. Not to be confused with Millviile, Ingham County, MI.

1906 Map of Millville

1874 map of Fish Lake.

The village of Fish Lake, also called Stephens, was founded in 1873 by Henry STEPHENS, a lumber baron who built a saw mill, helped fund the railroad connecting Lapeer and Fish Lake, and employed about 100 men. With no settlement in 1872, by 1873 the community had about 275 inhabitants, and the 1874 Atlas shows an organized layout.

In the northeast corner of Mayfield, the village of Five Lakes, like Fish Lake, was built around a lumber mill. Both villages have now vanished.