On May 10, 1825, Marcus Swift, from Palmyra, N. Y., bought the northwest corner of Section 11 in Nankin Township from the United States government, becoming the first owner of land now part of Garden City. The Swift family's log cabin stood a few rods from this site overlooking the River Rouge in what was then a dense hardwood forest. On May 28, 1827, Swift was elected the first supervisor of Bucklin, which included the present Redford, Dearborn, Livonia, and Nankin townships and had a population of less than 500, not including a few Indians. Governor Lewis Cass appointed Swift Justice of the Peace in 1828, and he was also a Methodist circuit rider and a vociferous opponent of slavery.