The H.R. Burdick Deeds in Section 10, Colfax Township

I am posting information gleaned from land records in the areas where our family’s ancestors resided. You can read more about this project in the overview. You may also check my deed record listing, which I will update with each post.

This group of deeds is for a family with the surname of BURDICK, who lived in Colfax Township, Wexford County, Michigan. Although these Burdicks may be distantly related to our Burdick ancestors, we have not documented any relationship. You can find out more about the family members here. In this group of deeds, there are no principals such as grantor, grantee, or witness who are also principals in the group of deeds executed by our family. This evidence, along with some vital records helped me conclude that this branch of Burdicks were not closely related to our branch, and did not consider themselves as such.

I found seven deeds under which Harrison and Martha Burdick granted portions of their original purchase to family members. All descriptions are in Section 10, T23N R10W, which is Colfax, Wexford, Michigan.

On 3 October 1877, in St Joseph County, Michigan, a son named Clarence was born to Maryette Potts and her husband Daniel. On 13 January 1909, Clarence Potts, age 21 married in Wexford County Michigan. He was the son of Daniel Potts and Mary Burdick according to the marriage record. Harrison Burdick listed St. Joseph County, Michigan as his home when he purchased this land. Although this is not proof that Maryetta Potts another Burdick daughter, it comes close enough for a non-relative like me.

The lesson I learned from this exercise was that I did not have to pay too much attention to this family as I research our Burdick family in Wexford County. Here is a view from the 1908 Atlas¹, showing the land in Section 10. Since John Salisbury’s wife was Almira Burdick, and Maryetta Potts was Maryetta Burdick Potts, the land was still all in the family.

1. Geo. A. Ogle & Co., Standard atlas of Wexford County, Michigan : including a plat book of the villages, cities and townships of the county…patrons directory, reference business directory…/ assisted in record work and platting by E. A. Losie (Chicago, Ill.: Geo A. Ogle & Co., 1908), page 45; digital images, The University of Michigan. Michigan County Histories and Atlases. http://name.umdl.umich.edu/3928168.0001.001 : accessed 2 November 2009.