Written by Sandy Kinter, from Waterford Genealogical Society E-Newsletter Volume 15 Number 6
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.
Winton J. Plumb
Martha Vliet
The 111 acre property of W. Plumb was located in the southeast quarter of Section 21. The residence is shown in the northern part of the property, along Pontiac Lake Road. The southern boundary was Elizabeth Lake Road and the northern shore of Crescent Lake. The 1870 census, page 593, Waterford Township, has Winton Plumb, age 25, born in New York and his wife, Mattie, age 23, born in Michigan. Also with the Plumbs are Ettie Cofinger, age 18, domestic servant, born in Michigan, and John Hendrie, age 20, farm laborer, born in Michigan.
Winton J. Plumb was born about 1844, in New York, the son of Carlos B. Plumb and Harriet Heath. (1) He married Martha Vliet, 13 December 1869, in Clarkston, Oakland County, Michigan. (2) The Plumbs were newlyweds in the 1870 census. Winton died of typhoid fever, 14 August 1880, in Waterford Township. (3) The Plumb and Heath families were reported under Winton’s parents, Carlos and Harriet (Heath) Plumb, who resided in Section 17, Waterford Township.
Martha, aka Mattie, Vliet was born 15 December 1846, in Clarkston, Oakland County, Michigan. (4)(5) She was the daughter of William Van Buskirk Vliet and Martha Ann Axford. (4) Mattie never remarried after the death of her husband, Winton Plumb. She died in Clarkston, Michigan on 27 February 1933 and is buried in the Lakeview Cemetery, Clarkston. (4)(5)
General Land Office records show that William V. Vliet, of Oakland County, Michigan, was purchasing land in Independence Township in 1837. The Vliet family was originally from New Jersey. William Van Buskirk Vliet was born 21 November 1797, in Warren County, New Jersey. (5) He married Martha Ann Axford, 1 July 1821, Sussex County, New Jersey. (6)(7) William V. Vliet died 18 January 1880, in Oakland County. Martha died 17 October 1881, also in Oakland County. (5) Both are buried in the Lakeview Cemetery, Clarkston, Michigan. (5)
During the War of 1812, William V. Vliet served from New Jersey, with the rank of Captain. (8) His father, William Vliet, fought in the Revolutionary War.(9) The parents of Martha Ann Axford were John Axford and Eleanor Polhemus. (7) Eleanor Polhemus was the daughter of Major John Polhemus and Susannah Hart. (7) Major Polhemus was with George Washington at Valley Forge, the Battle of Trenton, Battle of Monmouth, and the Battle of Brandywine. (10) Susannah Hart was the daughter of John Hart, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his wife, Deborah Scudder. (11)
Sources:
- 1860 Census, page 243, Town of Perinton, Monroe County, New York
- Michigan, County Marriage Records, 1822-1940; Oakland County, 1866-1887,
page 147, Ancestry, www.ancestry.com - Michigan, Death Records, 1867-1950, Oakland-Isabella, 1880-1882;
Oakland County, page 323, Ancestry, www.ancestry.com - Death Certificate, Mattie V. Plumb, Michigan, Death Records, 1867-1950,
Oakland County, 1929-1936, Ancestry, www.ancestry.com - Lakeview Cemetery, Clarkston, Michigan, Find A Grave, www.findagrave.com
- New Jersey, Marriage Records, 1670-1965, Ancestry, www.ancestry.com
- The Axfords of Oxford, New Jersey, William Clinton Armstrong, Shawrer
Publishing Co., Morrison, IL, 1931, pages 45-46, FamilySearch,
www.familysearch.org - War of 1812 Pension Application Files Index, 1812-1815,
Ancestry, www.ancestry.com - William Vliet, Ancestor #A119113, GRS, Daughters of the American Revolution,
www.dar.org - “Major John Polhemus”, Fannie S. Magee, The American Monthly Magazine,
Volume IX, July-December 1896, No. 3, September 1896, pages 287-293,
National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, Hathitrust Digital
Library, www.hathitrust.org - “John Hart “The Signer””, Dr. John R. Stevenson, New York Genealogical and
Biographical Record, Volume 21 (1890), pages 36-37, American Ancestors,
www.americanancestors.org