Section 8 – The Huntoon Family, Part 2

Written by Sandy Kinter, from Waterford Genealogical Society E-Newsletter Volume 18 Number 7

The eastern boundary of Section 8 is mostly followed by Airport Road until the road has to go around the western point of Huntoon Lake. Airport Road then makes one of those quirky dog leg maneuvers popular in the lakes area, but totally confusing for nonresidents, and, with a little jaunt to the east, continues north to Waterford Village. Hatchery Road makes up the southeastern corner of the section and now makes its way along the southern shore of Williams Lake to connect with Williams Lake Road.

In 1872 much of Section 8 is owned by the Whitfield family, Waterman P. Grow, and Emily Huntoon. Waterman P. Grow resided in Waterford Village and he is reported with other village residents.The Huntoon family has a large presence in Sections 5 and 8. All of the family is reported on in Section 8 with a two-part series.

Today the farmlands of Section 8 are covered by homes with some small businesses along Williams Lake and Airport Roads

The Huntoon Family, Part 2

The second son of Daniel and Melinda Huntoon was Phineas Huntoon. The Find A Grave entry for Phineas Huntoon has a picture of his simple headstone with the dates 1827-1903. (1) In the 1900 census it is reported that Phineas Huntoon was born in August 1827, in New Hampshire. (2) He died 5 January 1905, in WaterfordTownship, Oakland County. (3) Phineas Huntoon is buried in the Drayton Plains Cemete ry, Waterford, Michigan. (1)

The 1872 plat map shows the 188 acre farm of P. Huntoon in the southeast corner of Section 5, on the corner of Williams Lake and Airport Roads. Most of this property is the original land patent acquired by Josiah Huntoon in 1832. (7) Phineas purchased the property from his step-mother, Mary, with a deed dated November 1856. (4) The 1870 census reports Phineas Huntoon, age 42, farmer, born in New Hampshire; Susan, age 34, born in Rhode Island; Lenora, age 11, born in Michigan; and Elida DeLand, age 10, born in Michigan. Also with the family are Ellen Penniman, age 21, domestic servant, born in Canada, and John Heyward, age 17, farm laborer, born in Michigan. Phineas and younger brother, Horace, were the owners of a general store in the Village of Waterford, located on the corner of the Saginaw Turnpike (now Dixie Highway) and Grand River Street (now Andersonville Road). The property was purchased by Phineas, from Abram Norris, with a deed dated 1 May 1855. (5) The building stood on the corner of Dixie Highway and Andersonville Road until 1927 when it was purchased by Henry Ford and moved to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. (6) Now called the J.R. Jones General Store after one of the proprietors, the building still stands in Greenfield Village.

The first wife of Phineas Huntoon was Miranda Earl, married 28 January 1857, Clintonville, Oakland County, Michigan. (8) Online family trees report Miranda Earl is the daughter of the Rev. Oliver Earl and Sarah Williams. This may be true, but online sources could not confirm or disprove this claim. In the 1850 census, Oliver Earl, “Meth. Epis. Preacher” is residing in Independence Township, Oakland County (9) and Miranda “Earls” is recorded with William and Mary Walker in Waterford Township. (10) Those online family trees report Mary, daughter of Oliver and Sarah Earl, had married William Walker. Phineas and Miranda will have one child, daughter Leonora May, born 29 April 1859. (11) Miranda will be reported in the 1860 census (12) and then Phineas is marrying his second wife in March 1868. (13) The online family trees report that Miranda died 21 February 1866, but have no proof to confirm this date and no cemetery record was found.

Phineas married secondly, the widow, Susan (Bentley) DeLand, 25 March 1868, in Waterford Township, Oakland County, Michigan. (13) The marriage record gives her name as Susan D. Land, but this is incorrect, her first husband was Edwin T. DeLand. (15)(16) If her age at death is correct, Susan Marilla Bentley was born 13 May 1835, in Rhode Island, the daughter of Caleb and Susan Bentley. (14) In the 1850 census, the Bentley family were residents of Perinton, Monroe County, New York. (17) Susan died 6 May 1898, in Waterford Township, Oakland County, Michigan. (14) She is buried with her first husband in the Oakwood Cemetery, Adrian, Lenawee County, Michigan. (27)

In the 1870 census the family of Horace Huntoon is recorded immediately following the entry for his brother Phineas. The entry reports: Horace Huntoon, age 38, farmer, born in New Hampshire; wife Lovisa, age 28, born in New York; children, Frank, age 7; Hattie, age 3; and Almeron, age 4 months, born in February. All the children were born in Michigan. Also with the family are: Anthony Auetswill?, age 38, farm laborer, born in France; Eliza Benderman, age 18, domestic servant, born in Canada; and James Hansel, age 16, farm laborer, born in Michigan. On the 1872 Waterford Township plat map, H. Huntoon owns two parcels of 40 acres each, in Section 6, on the eastern shore of Maceday Lake, but no residence is shown on either one. Exactly where Horace resided has yet to be determined. He could be the Thomas Huntoon who purchased one acre of land in Section 5 from Phineas Huntoon in August 1868. (20)

Horace Huntoon was the third son of Daniel and Melinda Huntoon. He was born, 28 December 1831, possibly in Monroe County, New York since that is where the family is residing in the 1830 census and Daniel Huntoon’s land patent says he was from Monroe County, New York. (7)(18) Horace died 12 June 1897, in Waterford Township, Oakland County. (1)(19) He is buried in the Drayton Plains Cemetery, Waterford Township. (1)

No exact marriage date was found for Horace Huntoon and Lovisa Streeter. Their oldest child, Frank, was born in September 1864 (21), so a marriage would have taken place about 1862-1863. Lovisa’s death certificate says she was born 18 July 1840, in New York. (22) A Streeter family history says she was born 19 July 1840 and had a twin sister named Louisa. (23) She was the daughter of Elias Streeter and his second wife, Eva Ballard.(23) The Streeter family can be traced back to Stephen and Ursula Streeter of Gloucester and Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1642-1652. (23) Lovisa’s grandfather, Benjamin Streeter, served in the Revolutionary War, fighting in the Battle of Bennington, Vermont. (25) Elias Streeter is found in the 1860 census residing in Brandon Township, Oakland County, Michigan, with Lovisa’s twin sister, Louisa, and her husband Charles Hellicutt. (26) Lorenzo Streeter, whose report is found in the Waterford Village biographies, is Lovisa’s older brother. (23) After Horace’s death, Lovisa married secondly, Nicholas A. Wolfe, 7 April 1910, in Oakland County, Michigan. She died 6 January 1929, in Holly, Oakland County, Michigan. (22) Lovisa is buried with Horace in the Drayton Plains Cemetery, under the name of Lovisa Huntoon. (1)

    Sources:

    1. Drayton Plains Cemetery, Waterford, Oakland County, Michigan, Find A Grave,
      www.findagrave.com
    2. 1900 Census, page 307A, Waterford Township, Oakland County, Michigan
    3. 1903 Death Records, Oakland County, Michigan, Phineas Huntoon, Digital File #516410,
      indexed as Thrinas Huntoon, Michiganology, www.michiganology.org
    4. Deed Records, Oakland County, Michigan, Volumes 58-59, 1844-1856; Volume 59,
      pages 260-261, Image 480, FHL #0975587, FamilySearch, www.familysearch.org
    5. Deed Records, Oakland County, Michigan, Volumes 54-55, 1855; Volume 55, pages 491-492,
      Images 601-602, FHL #0975585, FamilySearch, www.familysearch.org
    6. The Waterford Township Historical Society, www.waterfordhistoricalsociety.org
    7. Daniel Huntoon Certificate #5760 and Josiah Huntoon Certificate #5761, Bureau of Land
      Management, General Land Office Records, www.glorecords.blm.gov
    8. Record of Marriages, Oakland County, Michigan, Volumes D-G, 1849-1876; Volume E,
      page 54, Image 433, FHL #0973980, FamilySearch, www.familysearch.org
    9. 1850 Census, page 318, Independence Township, Oakland County, Michigan
    10. 1850 Census, page 125, Waterford Township, Oakland County, Michigan
    11. Death Certificate, Lenora May Cooper, Michigan, Death Records, 1867-1952;
      Oakland, 1934-1938, Ancestry, www.ancestry.com
    12. 1860 Census, page 367, Waterford Township, Oakland County, Michigan
    13. Record of Marriages, Oakland County, Michigan, Volumes 1-2, 1876-1889; Volume 1,
      page 27, Image 94, FHL #0973981, FamilySearch, www.familysearch.org
    14. 1898 Death Records, Oakland County, Susan Huntoon, Digital File #630361, indexed
      as Susan Hunter, Michiganology, www.michiganology.org
    15. 1860 Census, page 203, Grass Lake Township, Jackson County, Michigan
    16. The Tracy Genealogy, Sherman Weld Tracy, The Tuttle Publishing Co., Rutland, VT, 1936,
      page 55, FamilySearch, www.familysearch.org
    17. 1850 Census, page 185, Perinton, Monroe County, New York
    18. 1830 Census, page 288, Odgen, Monroe County, New York
    19. Record of Deaths, Oakland County, Michigan, Volumes 1-2, 1867-1902; Volume 2,
      1887-1897, page 200, Image 598, FHL #0973983, FamilySearch, www.familysearch.org
    20. Deed Records, Oakland County, Michigan, Volumes 95-96, 1868-1871; Volume 95,
      1868-1869, page 45, Image 29, FHL #0975452, FamilySearch, www.familysearch.org
    21. Death Certificate, Frank C. Huntoon, Michigan, Death Records, 1867-1952,
      Oakland, 1934-1938, Ancestry, www.ancestry.com
    22. Death Certificate, Lovisa Huntoon Wolf, Michigan, Death Records, 1867-1952,
      Oakland, 1925-1929, indexed as Gavina Hauntson, Wolf, Ancestry, www.ancestry.com
    23. A Genealogical History of the Descendants of Stephen and Ursula Streeter, Milford B. Streeter,
      Eben Putnam Publisher, Salem, MA, 1896, pages 54 and 56, Internet Archive, www.archive.org
    24. Michigan, Marriages, 1867-1952; Oakland County, page 7, Lenawee-St. Clair, 1910,
      Ancestry, www.ancestry.com
    25. Lineage Book, Volume XXVII, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution,
      1899, page 196, Mrs. Hattie Louisa Huntoon Burns, #27523, Ancestry, www.ancestry.com
    26. 1860 Census, page 799, Brandon Township, Oakland County, Michigan, Charles Hellicutt,
      indexed on Ancestry as Chas. Kellicut
    27. Oakwood Cemetery, Adrian, Lenawee County, Michigan, Find A Grave, www.findagrave.com