Zeluff Ancestry, Ovid, Branch County Michigan
August 27, 2022
The Hillsdale and Branch County plat maps that I was able to look at recently also contained a few exciting tidbits regarding the father and grandfather of my 3rd great grandmother, Abigail Ida, as well as an interesting mystery, which is where I will start this post.
The name Burnett M. Zeluff caught my eye because Abigail Ida's grandmother's maiden name was Burnett—Betsy Burnett. And the man she married was Josephus Wartman Zeluff. I have been unable to find evidence that Josephus and Betsy had a child named Burnett Zeluff, but it seems like quite a coincidence that his first name is the maiden name of Betsy and that his last name is the same as Josephus' last name.
This picture was an amazing find. The first day I looked at the Ovid, Branch 1872 map, I only noticed the name “J W Zeluff” there in the middle left of the photograph. That was obviously exciting to see because it is most likely the property owned by Josephus Wartman Zeluff, Abigail Ida's grandfather. Born in 1804, he would have been 68 years old at the time the map was made. The 1850, 1860 and 1870 censuses all cite him as living in Ovid, which confirms that “J W Zeluff” on the map must be him.
The next time I returned to the 1872 Ovid map, I realized I had missed something that was just as exciting. If you look closely in the lower right corner of the photograph I've provided, you will see “M Zeluff” as owning 40 acres straddling the section line between sections 11 and 12. I was pretty sure that this could be Josephus' son, William Merritt Zeluff, who was Abigail Ida's father, and sure enough, when I checked the 1870 census, he is indicated as living in Ovid. Additionally, his name is recorded as “Merritt Zeluff,” adding credibility to idea that “M Zeluff” on the map is William Merritt.
1872 is also the same year that Abigail Ida was born, so finding her father's property is doubly exciting as it reveals not only a detail of his life, but also provides the home that Abigail Ida was born into and likely where she spent her short childhood prior to her marriage to Hezekiah Finney, whose life I discussed in my previous post.
I can't imagine trying to create a complete genealogy or family history without using plat maps. To me, having the names of my ancestors on paper is the most exciting part of uncovering ancestry. I can not only see visually how much land they owned, but I can also see their lives in the larger context of towns, neighbors, lakes etc, not to mention the excitement of being able to figure out roughly where their homesteads were so that I can drive by and catch a glimpse of the land that they once owned. Census data gives me the towns and years that I can look in, while plat maps afford me that deeper look into the specifics of living situations. I love that.
Lastly, I was reviewing William Merritt's findagrave.com page and realized that I had missed the death certificate that has been uploaded there. I was excited to see it and will put it below. This is the final document, providing me with closure to his life. After a divorce somewhere between 1880 and 1900, William spent his final years living with his sister and brother in law in 1900 and his daughter and son in law in 1910. His death from cancer occurred in 1911.
