Written by Sandy Kinter, from Waterford Genealogical Society E-Newsletter Volume 16 Number 12
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 HessHathaway 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.
Hazael S. Hunt
Jane Crawford
The 80 acre farm of H.S. Hunt was located in the southeast corner of Section 31, at the intersection of Hospital and Cooley Lake Roads. The 1872 plat map of Waterford Township shows the residence on Cooley Lake Road. The house location is now under the parking lot for a defunct bowling alley. In the 1870 census, residing on the farm are, Hazael Hunt, age 56, farmer, born in Michigan; and children, Sarah, age 22, George, age 21, Maggie, age 18, Charles age 16, and Elizabeth, age 10, all born in Michigan.
Stephen Hunt and family arrived in Oakland County in the early 1830’s. Sons, Hazael, James M., and Morgan are all obtaining land patents in Section 31, dated 10 April, or 10 July 1832. (5) Another son, Schuyler Hunt, has a land patent, next to Hazael, in Section 32, dated 10 July 1832. (5) All the land patents are along Cooley Lake Road and include all of the southern lands in Section 31 and part of Section 32. The family history of Stephen Hunt and his wife, Mary Whitmore Shephard, is found under the biography of their granddaughter, Mary Loretta Hunt, wife of George Fowler, residents of Section 18.
Hazael S. Hunt was born in 1814, Rensselaer County, New York, the son of Stephen Hunt and Mary Whitmore Shephard. (1)(2)(3) He married Jane Crawford about 1846, exact date and place unknown. (2) Hazael and family resided on their farm in Section 31 until July 1874 when it was sold to Charles E. Dewey. (13) In the 1880 census, Hazael and his three unmarried daughters, Sarah, Margaret, and Elizabeth, are residents of Pontiac, Michigan. (14) Hazael died 19 May 1895 in Genesee County, Michigan, (3)(4) and he is buried in the Four Towns Cemetery, Waterford Township, Oakland County. (1)
The wife of Hazael S. Hunt was Jane Crawford, daughter of George and Sarah (Ralston) (10) Crawford. (6) She was born about 1830, in Ireland, (7) and died 3 March 1863. (8) Jane is buried in the Commerce Village Burying Ground, Commerce Township, Oakland County. (8)
George and Sarah Crawford arrived in the port of New Orleans, on the ship Sophia, 26 May 1831, sailing from Londonderry, Ireland. (9) Included on the ship’s passenger list are daughters, Margaret, Mary Ann, Jane, and Rebecca. (9) George Crawford, of Wayne County, Michigan, had a land patent, dated 5 May 1837, for land in Commerce Township. The Crawford family is found in the 1840 census residing in Commerce Township, but by 1850 they are residents of White Lake Township. (11)(12) George Crawford died 10 June 1878 and Sarah died 4 August 1881. (8) Both are buried in the Commerce Village Burying Ground, Commerce Township. (8)
Sources:
- Four Towns Cemetery, Waterford Township, Oakland County, Michigan,
Find A Grave, www.findagrave.com - Biographical Record, Oakland County, Michigan, Biographical Publishing Company,
Chicago, 1903, Biography of James Simpson, page 235, Hathitrust Digital Library,
www.hathitrust.org - Michigan, Death Records, 1867-1952; Wayne-Wexford, 1894, Alcona-Kent, 1895,
Genesee County, page 278, Ancestry, www.ancestry.com - Obituary, Hazel (sic) Hunt, Pontiac Gazette, Pontiac, Michigan, Friday, 24 May 1895,
page 1, Digital Michigan Newspaper Portal, Central Michigan University,
www.cmich.edu/library/clarke/Pages/Michigan-Digital-Newspaper-Portal.aspx - Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records,
www.glorecords.blm.gov - Michigan, Wills and Probate Records, 1784-1980; Oakland County, Probate
Records, Volumes 52-53, 1876-1880, Volume 53, page 97, Ancestry,
www.ancestry.com - 1850 Census, page 116, Waterford Township, Oakland County, Michigan
- Commerce Village Burying Ground, Commerce Township, Oakland County, Michigan,
Find A Grave, www.findagrave.com - New Orleans, Passenger Lists, 1813-1963, New Orleans, 1820-1902, Brig Sophia,
26 May 1831, Ancestry, www.ancestry.com - Death Certificate, Margaret Crawford, Michigan, Death Records, 1867-1952;
Montcalm-Ottawa, 1910, Ancestry, www.ancestry.com - 1840 Census, page 39, Commerce Township, Oakland County, Michigan
- 1850 Census, page 161, White Lake Township, Oakland County, Michigan
- Oakland County, Michigan, Deed Records, Volume 114, page 155, Image 85,
FHL #0975461, FamilySearch, www.familysearch.org - 1880 Census, page 304B, 2nd Ward, Pontiac, Oakland County, Michigan