Written by Sandy Kinter, from Waterford Genealogical Society E-Newsletter Volume 16 Number 9
Section 31 is the southwestern corner of Waterford Township. Williams Lake Road makes up the western boundary and Cooley Lake Road is the southern boundary. It is mostly residential with businesses and shops along Cooley Lake Road. The Oakland County Tuberculosis Sanatorium was once located in Section 31. The hospital property is now the site of the Highland Lake Campus of Oakland Community College. Waterford Township’s Hess Hathaway Park occupies the old Hathaway farm on Williams Lake Road.
The 1872 plat map of Waterford Township shows a small property owned by F.W. Fifield on the northern boundary of Section 31. Francis Webster Fifield was a resident of Waterford Village and he was included in the biographies of the village. In the southeastern corner of the section, at the intersection of Hospital and Cooley Lake Roads is a small square marked O. Dewey. Orville Dewey and his wife, Ann Herrington, will be reported with their parents, John K. Dewey, and Judah Herrington, both of whom resided in Section 32.
The Hathaway Family
The route of the 1870 census taker, Almeron Whitehead, took him south, down Williams Lake Road. In Section 31, the first residence he would have arrived at would have been Linus Hathaway, age 24, born in Michigan, wife Adelia, age 25, born in Michigan, and living with the family was Jennie Olmsted, age 11, born in Michigan, all recorded on page 591, Waterford Township, Oakland County, Michigan. Following the farm of Linus Hathaway was the residence of his parents, Owen Hathaway, age 50, born in New York, wife Mary, age 49, born in New York, twin daughters Althea and Alice, age 18, born in Michigan, and farm laborer, George Smith, age 40, born in New York.
The 1872 plat map of Waterford Township shows both farms located in the northwestern corner of Section 31. This property is now part of the Hess-Hathaway Park owned by Waterford Township. Owen Hathaway’s grand-daughter, Myrtle Hathaway, daughter and only child of Linus and Adelia, married William Hess, an early investor in the Fisher Body Company. Upon her death in 1985 the land was donated to Waterford Township to be used as a park. (1)
Jonathan Owen Hathaway, known by his middle name of Owen, was born 13 May 1820, Steuben County, New York, (2)(3)(4) the son of Nathaniel Brewen Hathaway and Chloe Washburne (2) or Ludlum. (4) He died 7 September 1908, in Waterford Township (2) and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Pontiac, Michigan. (5) Owen married Mary C. Dewey, 31 October 1839, in Oakland County, Michigan. (6) Jonathan O. Hathaway purchased his property in Section 31, from Theron and Sylvia Flower, on 30 September 1861. (9)
The parents of Owen Hathaway, Nathaniel B. and Chloe Hathaway, moved to Oakland County from New York. (3)(4) They are purchasing land in Pontiac Township on 24 October 1828. (7) Nathaniel B. Hathaway and family were recorded in the 1830 census on page 100, Oakland County, Michigan Territory. The will of Nathaniel B. Hathaway, dated 17 March 1837, was submitted to probate court on 29 April 1837. (8) Various unsourced Hathaway family trees claim that the family was originally from Morris County, New Jersey, but that could not be proved with online sources.
The wife of Owen Hathaway was Mary C. Dewey, born ca 1820-1821, (10) in Vermont. (3) She was the daughter of Linus Dewey and Clarinda Belknap. (10) (11) Mary died 10 August 1898, in Waterford Township, and she is buried with her husband in the Oak Hill Cemetery, Pontiac, Michigan. (5)(10)
Linus Dewey was the son of Ebenezer and Jemima (Kimball) Dewey, born 1 March 1793 in Royalton, Vermont. (11) He married Clarinda Belknap, 22 December 1820, Royalton, Vermont. (11) On 10 February 1832, Linus Dewey of Monroe County, New York acquired a patent on 80 acres of land in White Lake Township, Oakland County, Michigan. (12) Linus Dewey died 8 June 1874, in Oakland County and he is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Pontiac, Michigan. (5)(13) He was a first cousin of Levi Dewey who resided in Section 19, Waterford Township, and a brother of John Kimball Dewey, a resident of Section 32, Waterford Township. Linus’ branch of the Dewey family will be continued under his brother, John. Clarinda Belknap, wife of Linus Dewey, died 28 June 1878, in Pontiac, and she is buried with her husband in Oak Hill Cemetery. (5)(11)(13)(14)
In the northwest corner of Section 31 is the small 40 acre farm of Linus Hathaway, son of Jonathan Owen and Mary Dewey. Linus was born 11 June 1845, in Oakland County, and died 1 Jan 1924, Pontiac, Michigan. (15) He is buried in Roseland Park Cemetery, Berkley, Oakland County, Michigan. (16) Adelia M. Olmstead, wife of Linus, was the daughter of Harley Olmstead and Rachel Taylor, born 25 February 1845, in White Lake Township. (17) No marriage record for Linus and Adelia was found with online resources. The Olmstead family were early settlers in White Lake Township. Harley Olmsted of Monroe County, New York, received a patent for land in White Lake Township on 4 September 1832. (12) Adelia M. Hathaway died 18 July 1927, in Pontiac, Michigan and she is buried in Roseland Cemetery with her husband. (16)(17)
Sources:
- Hathaway-Hess Farm, The Michigan Historical Marker Website,
www.michmarkers.com - Death Certificate, Jonathan Owen Hathaway, Michigan, Death Records, 1867-1952,
Monroe-Ottawa, 1908, Ancestry, www.ancestry.com - Biographical Record, Oakland County, Michigan, Biographical Publishing Company,
Chicago, 1903, pages 211-212, Hathitrust Digital Library, www.hathitrust.org - Portrait and Biographical Album of Oakland County, Michigan, Chapman Bros.,
Chicago, 1891, pages 453-454, Hathitrust Digital Library, www.hathitrust.org - Oak Hill Cemetery, Pontiac, Michigan, Find A Grave, www.findagrave.com
- Oakland County, Michigan, Record of Marriages, Volume C, 1839-1849, page 39,
Image 323, FHL #0973979, FamilySearch, www.familysearch.org - Oakland County, Michigan, Deed Records, Volume 2/B2, Part 2, pages 113-114,
Images 695-696, FHL #0975561, FamilySearch, www.familysearch.org - Oakland County, Michigan, Probate Records, Volume 5, pages 19-23,
Images 42-44, FHL #0973903, FamilySearch, www.familysearch.org - Oakland County, Michigan, Deed Records, Volume 70, pages 528-530,
Images 610-611, FHL #0975439, FamilySearch, www.familysearch.org - Death Certificate, Mary C. Hathaway, Michigan, Death Records, 1867-1952,
Oakland-Shiawassee, 1898, Ancestry, www.ancestry.com - Life of George Dewey and the Dewey Family History, Dewey Publishing Company,
Westfield, MA, 1989, pages 450 and 527, Ancestry, www.ancestry.com - Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records, www.glorecords.blm.gov
- History of Royalton, Vermont, Part 2, Evelyn M. Wood Lovejoy, Free Press
Printing Co., Burlington, VT, 1911, Dewey Family, pages 759-761,
Hathitrust Digital Library, www.hathitrust.org - Oakland County, Michigan, Record of Deaths, Volume 1, 1867-1886, page 159,
Image 216, FHL #0973983, FamilySearch, www.familysearch.org - Death Certificate, Linius B. Hathaway, indexed as Loomis B. Hathaway,
Michigan, Death Records, 1867-1952, Oakland (Pontiac) 1921-1925,
Ancestry, www.ancestry.com - Roseland Park Cemetery, Berkley, Oakland County, Michigan, Find A Grave,
www.findagrave.com - Death Certificate, Adelia M. Hathaway, Michigan, Death Records, 1867-1952,
Oakland (Pontiac), 1925-1931, Ancestry, www.ancestry.com