Written by Sandy Kinter, from Waterford Genealogical Society E-Newsletter Volume 15 Number 4
The center of Waterford Township is the intersection of Highland Road (M-59) and Crescent Lake Road. Section 21 is the southwest corner of this intersection. The business corridor, along Highland Road, is the northern boundary of the section. South of that lies the residential part of Section 21, with Elizabeth Lake Road marking the southern boundary of the section. Running through the center of the section is Pontiac Lake Road, which is where the 1872 plat map shows most of the residences were located. The Clinton River runs diagonally across the township on its way to Pontiac.
Matching residents’ names on the 1872 plat map to names in the 1870 census was a little difficult in Section 21. Sometimes, as in the case of J. Utley, the name appears on the plat map, but cannot be found in the 1870 census, or in any census. J. Utley is still unknown. Also unknown is the F. Sutton, found in the southeast corner of the section, with 49 acres along Elizabeth Lake Road and the intersection of Crescent Lake Road. No F. Sutton was found in the 1870 census or agricultural census.
Susan Hayward
Welcome Hill
The 1872 plat map of Waterford Township shows the eighty acre farm of Mrs. S. Hill in the south part of Section 21. The southern boundary of the farm is Elizabeth Lake Road and the residence is found in the northern part of the property on Pontiac Lake Road. In the 1870 census, Susan Hill is found on page 593, Waterford Township, Oakland County, Michigan. The census entry reports that residing in the household are Susan Hill, age 54, born in Massachusetts; Nelson J., age 38; and Caroline, age 37, both born in New York. Also residing in the Hill household are Leander Birdsall, age 25; his wife, Frances E., age 25, both born in New York; and children, Ida O., age 2, born in New York; and Julia, age six months, born December, in Michigan. Research will show that Frances Ellen Birdsall was a daughter of Welcome and Susan Hill. (1)
Susan Hayward was born 6 January 1806, in Pelham, Massachusetts, the daughter of Ichabod and Ruth (Hackett) Hayward. (2) She married Welcome Hill, probably in New York since all the Hill children were born there. (1) The Find A Grave entry for Welcome Hill says he was born 23 January 1797, in Rhode Island. (3) But the tombstone picture included with the Find A Grave entry, is not legible and there is no birth record for Welcome Hill in the Rhode Island Vital Records, so this date cannot be confirmed. Welcome Hill died 10 May 1852, in Wayne County, New York. (3) He is buried in the Palmyra Cemetery, Palmyra, New York. (3)
The Hill family is still residing in the Town of Macedon, Wayne County, New York for the 1860 census. (4) In 1869 S. and C.A. Hill are purchasing land in the East ½ of the Southwest ¼ of Section 21, Township 3N, Range 9N (Waterford). (5) Susan Hill died in Waterford Township, in 1874, and she is buried in the Waterford Center Cemetery.(6) Through her mother’s Hackett family line, Susan is a descendant of John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley of the Mayflower. (7)
Sources:
- 1850 Census, page 49, Town of Macedon, Wayne County, New York
- Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850; Pelham Vital Records, Volume 1,
Births, page 46, Marriages, page 117, AmericanAncestors,
www.americanancestors.org - Palmyra Cemetery, Palmyra, New York, Find A Grave, www.findagrave.com
- 1860 Census, page 1193, Town of Macedon, Wayne County, New York
- Oakland County, Michigan, Deed Index Volume 5, 1866-1870, no page numbers,
Image 93, Oakland County Michigan, Deed Index, Volumes 5-7, 1866-1879,
Film # 0975558, FamilySearch, www.familysearch.org - Waterford Center Cemetery, Waterford, Michigan, Find A Grave, www.findagrave.com
- The Mayflower Descendant
Volume 6, “Middleborough, Mass., Vital Records”, page 229
Volume 18, “Middleborough, Mass., Vital Records”, page 82
Volume 20, “The Will of Jeremiah Thomas”, page 131
American Ancestors, www.americanancestors.org