Eliza J. Powell was born on 14 February 1837 in Michigan, the daughter of John Powell and Deborah Burgess.¹ She was part of the first generation of this family born in the state, while her parents belonged to the earlier group who had settled in Oakland County.
In 1850 she was living with her parents in Pontiac, where she grew up among a large sibling group.²
Marriage in Avon Township
On 14 August 1859, Eliza married Stephen Hickmott in Avon Township, Oakland County.³ Their marriage is recorded in the county marriage register and marks the point at which the Powell and Hickmott families became directly connected.
Two years earlier, in 1857, land in section 30 of Avon Township was recorded in the name of **“E. Hickmott.”**⁴ This entry places Eliza in a land transaction at a remarkably young age and at nearly the same time as her marriage. Whether this reflects property brought into the marriage or a transfer connected with it, it shows her associated with land in her own right.
In 1860, Eliza and Stephen were living in Avon Township, beginning their married life there.⁵
Move to Shiawassee County
By the mid-1860s the family had moved to New Haven Township in Shiawassee County, where Eliza spent the remainder of her life.⁶ It was there that she raised her children:
- Melvin, born 1864⁷
- Frank, born 1866⁸
- William, born 1869⁹
- James, born 1871¹⁰
- Frederick Stephen, born 1874¹¹
- Bert, born 1877¹²
Her only known child to die young was James, who lived just over a year.¹⁰
Eliza appears with her family in New Haven Township in both the 1870 and 1880 census, in the household of her husband, where the rhythm of her life is recorded in the ages and birthplaces of her children.⁶,¹³
Daughter of John Powell and Deborah Burgess
While Eliza’s adult life was centered in Shiawassee County, her parents remained in Oakland County. Both died in 1886.¹⁴ Their deaths closed the Pontiac chapter of the family in which Eliza had been raised.
Death and burial
Eliza died on 15 September 1894 in New Haven Township.¹⁵ She was buried the following day in West Haven Cemetery.¹⁶ That cemetery became the burial place for multiple members of the Hickmott family and remains the physical location most closely associated with her life.
Her place in the family
Eliza’s story is told almost entirely through the standard records of the nineteenth century — census entries, a marriage record, a death record, and the cemetery where she was buried. Within those records she can be followed from her parents’ household in Pontiac to her own home in New Haven Township.
Sources
- Michigan Death Records, 1867–1950, Eliza J. Hickmott, 1894.
- 1850 U.S. census, Oakland County, Michigan, Pontiac, household of John Powell.
- Michigan County Marriages, 1822–1940, Stephen Hickmott and Eliza Powell, 14 Aug 1859, Avon Township, Oakland County.
- Avon Township, Oakland County, Michigan, land record, 1857, “E. Hickmott,” section 30.
- 1860 U.S. census, Oakland County, Michigan, Avon Township, household of Stephen Hickmott.
- 1870 U.S. census, Shiawassee County, Michigan, New Haven Township, household of Stephen Hickmott.
- Birth record of Melvin Hickmott, 5 Aug 1864, Avon Township, Oakland County, Michigan.
- Birth record of Frank Hickmott, 22 Jun 1866, New Haven Township, Shiawassee County, Michigan.
- Birth record of William Hickmott, 27 Jan 1869, New Haven Township, Shiawassee County, Michigan.
- Death record of James Hickmott, 15 Sep 1872, New Haven Township, Shiawassee County, Michigan.
- Birth record of Frederick Stephen Hickmott, 24 Mar 1874, New Haven Township, Shiawassee County, Michigan.
- Birth record of Bert Hickmott, 6 Feb 1877, New Haven Township, Shiawassee County, Michigan.
- 1880 U.S. census, Shiawassee County, Michigan, New Haven Township, household of Stephen Hickmott.
- Death record of John Powell, 31 Dec 1886, Pontiac, Oakland County, Michigan; Deborah Burgess Powell, Michigan death record, 1886.
- Michigan Death Records, 1867–1950, Eliza J. Hickmott, 15 Sep 1894.
- West Haven Cemetery, New Haven Township, Shiawassee County, Michigan; Find A Grave Index, memorial for Eliza J. Hickmott.