Susan was the 6th daughter and the 6th of 7 children of Caleb Bentley and Susan Chase Tennant (both of Rhode Island).
The Bentley's had removed to Perinton, New York by 1850, when Susan was 17. Perinton was where the DeLands lived, and the Bentleys were living close by; Susan met Edwin Tracy DeLand during the intervening years, and they were married May 20th of 1854 in Wyoming, New York.
They removed shortly thereafter to Grass Lake Twp. in Jackson County, Michigan where they took up farming (Edwin having previously been a teacher and merchant in Perinton).
They had three children:
1. Fremont, b. 1855; d. 1855 (infant)
2. Alida Electa, b. 1859
3. Kate Isabelle, b. 1863; d. 1863 (infant)
Her young husband Edwin died in August of 1863 at age 36, and her last daughter Kate died at 6 months old a month after that.
It is certain that Susan was in contact with her parental family in New York, and probably her older sister Harriet (Bentley) Wager (who married a few months before Susan did, but was 12 years older) told her about Waterford Twp., where she would soon live, intending on moving there herself.
Perhaps she wanted to flee the area that would remind her of her loss, and in any event was probably not able to run the farm herself; Susan took her surviving child Alida (then 4 years old) and made the move north to Waterford Twp, in Oakland County.
By March of 1868 Susan had met and married Phineas Huntoon, a son of Daniel Huntoon and Melinda Norris of New Hampshire.
(Phineas had been married once before as well, had recently lost his wife, and had one surviving daughter born in 1859 - things sadly in common with Susan's experience).
They had 2 more children:
1. Milton Byron, b. 1871
2. Dewitt Clinton, b. 1872
Phineas still farmed, but became comparatively wealthy as a merchant: he had a store in Waterford, built by his brother Horace in 1856, which was owned by Phineas Huntoon from 1860 until his death in 1903. (This store still exists and is currently located in Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. Henry Ford bought the store in 1927 and moved it there long after Phineas's tenancy there)
Susan lived the remainder of her life in Waterford, enjoying her relationships with her family, her 4 grandsons, and her sister's family of one niece and nephew.
In what was to be one of her last letters Susan wrote to her daughter Alida on "March 1, 98", mentioning how sick she has felt; she "looked in glass this morning and my eyes looked like a whortlebury in a coffee saucer". She also said her son "Dewy"(Dewitt) going back to Ann Arbor" Feb 25th to the Univ. of Mich. She said in closing "I was proud to head this letter March 1. Good bye. Mother".
The Bentley's had removed to Perinton, New York by 1850, when Susan was 17. Perinton was where the DeLands lived, and the Bentleys were living close by; Susan met Edwin Tracy DeLand during the intervening years, and they were married May 20th of 1854 in Wyoming, New York.
They removed shortly thereafter to Grass Lake Twp. in Jackson County, Michigan where they took up farming (Edwin having previously been a teacher and merchant in Perinton).
They had three children:
1. Fremont, b. 1855; d. 1855 (infant)
2. Alida Electa, b. 1859
3. Kate Isabelle, b. 1863; d. 1863 (infant)
Her young husband Edwin died in August of 1863 at age 36, and her last daughter Kate died at 6 months old a month after that.
It is certain that Susan was in contact with her parental family in New York, and probably her older sister Harriet (Bentley) Wager (who married a few months before Susan did, but was 12 years older) told her about Waterford Twp., where she would soon live, intending on moving there herself.
Perhaps she wanted to flee the area that would remind her of her loss, and in any event was probably not able to run the farm herself; Susan took her surviving child Alida (then 4 years old) and made the move north to Waterford Twp, in Oakland County.
By March of 1868 Susan had met and married Phineas Huntoon, a son of Daniel Huntoon and Melinda Norris of New Hampshire.
(Phineas had been married once before as well, had recently lost his wife, and had one surviving daughter born in 1859 - things sadly in common with Susan's experience).
They had 2 more children:
1. Milton Byron, b. 1871
2. Dewitt Clinton, b. 1872
Phineas still farmed, but became comparatively wealthy as a merchant: he had a store in Waterford, built by his brother Horace in 1856, which was owned by Phineas Huntoon from 1860 until his death in 1903. (This store still exists and is currently located in Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. Henry Ford bought the store in 1927 and moved it there long after Phineas's tenancy there)
Susan lived the remainder of her life in Waterford, enjoying her relationships with her family, her 4 grandsons, and her sister's family of one niece and nephew.
In what was to be one of her last letters Susan wrote to her daughter Alida on "March 1, 98", mentioning how sick she has felt; she "looked in glass this morning and my eyes looked like a whortlebury in a coffee saucer". She also said her son "Dewy"(Dewitt) going back to Ann Arbor" Feb 25th to the Univ. of Mich. She said in closing "I was proud to head this letter March 1. Good bye. Mother".
Susan was the 6th daughter and the 6th of 7 children of Caleb Bentley and Susan Chase Tennant (both of Rhode Island).
The Bentley's had removed to Perinton, New York by 1850, when Susan was 17. Perinton was where the DeLands lived, and the Bentleys were living close by; Susan met Edwin Tracy DeLand during the intervening years, and they were married May 20th of 1854 in Wyoming, New York.
They removed shortly thereafter to Grass Lake Twp. in Jackson County, Michigan where they took up farming (Edwin having previously been a teacher and merchant in Perinton).
They had three children:
1. Fremont, b. 1855; d. 1855 (infant)
2. Alida Electa, b. 1859
3. Kate Isabelle, b. 1863; d. 1863 (infant)
Her young husband Edwin died in August of 1863 at age 36, and her last daughter Kate died at 6 months old a month after that.
It is certain that Susan was in contact with her parental family in New York, and probably her older sister Harriet (Bentley) Wager (who married a few months before Susan did, but was 12 years older) told her about Waterford Twp., where she would soon live, intending on moving there herself.
Perhaps she wanted to flee the area that would remind her of her loss, and in any event was probably not able to run the farm herself; Susan took her surviving child Alida (then 4 years old) and made the move north to Waterford Twp, in Oakland County.
By March of 1868 Susan had met and married Phineas Huntoon, a son of Daniel Huntoon and Melinda Norris of New Hampshire.
(Phineas had been married once before as well, had recently lost his wife, and had one surviving daughter born in 1859 - things sadly in common with Susan's experience).
They had 2 more children:
1. Milton Byron, b. 1871
2. Dewitt Clinton, b. 1872
Phineas still farmed, but became comparatively wealthy as a merchant: he had a store in Waterford, built by his brother Horace in 1856, which was owned by Phineas Huntoon from 1860 until his death in 1903. (This store still exists and is currently located in Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. Henry Ford bought the store in 1927 and moved it there long after Phineas's tenancy there)
Susan lived the remainder of her life in Waterford, enjoying her relationships with her family, her 4 grandsons, and her sister's family of one niece and nephew.
In what was to be one of her last letters Susan wrote to her daughter Alida on "March 1, 98", mentioning how sick she has felt; she "looked in glass this morning and my eyes looked like a whortlebury in a coffee saucer". She also said her son "Dewy"(Dewitt) going back to Ann Arbor" Feb 25th to the Univ. of Mich. She said in closing "I was proud to head this letter March 1. Good bye. Mother".
The Bentley's had removed to Perinton, New York by 1850, when Susan was 17. Perinton was where the DeLands lived, and the Bentleys were living close by; Susan met Edwin Tracy DeLand during the intervening years, and they were married May 20th of 1854 in Wyoming, New York.
They removed shortly thereafter to Grass Lake Twp. in Jackson County, Michigan where they took up farming (Edwin having previously been a teacher and merchant in Perinton).
They had three children:
1. Fremont, b. 1855; d. 1855 (infant)
2. Alida Electa, b. 1859
3. Kate Isabelle, b. 1863; d. 1863 (infant)
Her young husband Edwin died in August of 1863 at age 36, and her last daughter Kate died at 6 months old a month after that.
It is certain that Susan was in contact with her parental family in New York, and probably her older sister Harriet (Bentley) Wager (who married a few months before Susan did, but was 12 years older) told her about Waterford Twp., where she would soon live, intending on moving there herself.
Perhaps she wanted to flee the area that would remind her of her loss, and in any event was probably not able to run the farm herself; Susan took her surviving child Alida (then 4 years old) and made the move north to Waterford Twp, in Oakland County.
By March of 1868 Susan had met and married Phineas Huntoon, a son of Daniel Huntoon and Melinda Norris of New Hampshire.
(Phineas had been married once before as well, had recently lost his wife, and had one surviving daughter born in 1859 - things sadly in common with Susan's experience).
They had 2 more children:
1. Milton Byron, b. 1871
2. Dewitt Clinton, b. 1872
Phineas still farmed, but became comparatively wealthy as a merchant: he had a store in Waterford, built by his brother Horace in 1856, which was owned by Phineas Huntoon from 1860 until his death in 1903. (This store still exists and is currently located in Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. Henry Ford bought the store in 1927 and moved it there long after Phineas's tenancy there)
Susan lived the remainder of her life in Waterford, enjoying her relationships with her family, her 4 grandsons, and her sister's family of one niece and nephew.
In what was to be one of her last letters Susan wrote to her daughter Alida on "March 1, 98", mentioning how sick she has felt; she "looked in glass this morning and my eyes looked like a whortlebury in a coffee saucer". She also said her son "Dewy"(Dewitt) going back to Ann Arbor" Feb 25th to the Univ. of Mich. She said in closing "I was proud to head this letter March 1. Good bye. Mother".
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"SUSAN M. DELAND
HUNTOON
1835-1898"
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