August Wittkopf in land records
by Conrad Terrill, 14 May 2012
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Four deeds pertaining to two pieces of property purchased and sold by August Wittkopf can be found in the land records for Wayne County, Michigan. Let’s first place the properties. The map at right, of Romulus, otherwise known as “Township No. 3 South, Range No. 9 East,” is from an atlas of Wayne County published in 1893. Romulus, like most other townships in Wayne County, was divided into thirty-six 640 acre sections, each of which was further divided into four 160 acre quarter sections. And each of those was divided into 40 acre sub-quarters, and so on. A general map of Wayne County, from this atlas, shows the location of Romulus relative to the city of Detroit. The two parcels of property once owned by August Wittkopf are highlighted as small darkish pink-orange areas on both these maps. 1-4
The northern, larger, parcel was a forty acre part of section 13 which August purchased for $500 by a deed dated 23 Feb. 1866 from Robert Inkster of Dearborn Township in Wayne County, and his wife Cordelia. Inkster reserved the right to “all the oak whitewood and white ash timber which measures 18 inches in diameter on the stump,” along with the right to come and haul it away at the rate of five acres per year, allowing August the right to point out and designate which areas could be cleared. 5
The second, smaller, piece of property was a ten acre part of section 25 which August purchased by a deed dated 11 Mar. 1871, for $220, from the estate of Lansing R. Mizner, late of Detroit, via administrator Samuel E. Pittman. Both of these properties were sold very soon after this second purchase. The larger piece was sold by a deed dated 23 Mar. 1871 for $1000 to Andrew Bodery of Ecorse Township in Wayne County. It was heavily mortgaged—$450 on a mortgage to a Samuel Sims, $65 on one to a Charles Stoffeld and $83 on one to a Jared Sexton. The smaller piece was sold by a deed dated 29 Mar. 1871 to Charles Babendreier, of Romulus, for $250 (about 14% profit on property held for only 18 days). Eleanore Wittkopf was named along with August on both 1871 deeds by which they sold property. 6-8
In a draft of a letter to his parents dated 6 Aug. 1865 August had written that he had 40 acres in Romulus and 160 acres in Lapeer. In fact, however, August did not then actually own the property in Romulus. We suppose that he was renting or leasing it at that time, from Robert Inkster, probably with the understanding that he could purchase it whenever he wanted to. And it seems unlikely that he ever actually owned property in Lapeer County. I have carefully checked the Lapeer County land record indexes over the period 1850 to 1875 and have not found the name “August Wittkopf,” or anything like it. In a letter to August dated 18 Mar. 1866 his parents, who were replying to a letter from him dated 7 Dec. 1865, mentioned that he had told them that he had forty acres of land with salt and oil on it, which he wouldn’t sell for $50,000. There was no mention of the 160 acres in Lapeer. Considering how often they corresponded (based on the collection of letters that we have), August would not have written on 6 Aug. 1865 and then again on 7 Dec. of the same year, so he must have decided not to send the letter that he drafted on 6 Aug., and from all appearances he also decided not to purchase the 160 acres in Lapeer. 9
It was on 15 Apr. 1871 that August auctioned off all his personal property, at his premises in Romulus. Presumably he and the family left Michigan immediately thereafter, for Baltimore County, Maryland. 10
References
1. An atlas of Wayne County, Michigan, produced in 1893 by Wm. C. Sauer. It can be found online in the digital map collection of the Library of Congress (click on "American History & Culture," then "Maps," then search for “Wayne County Michigan”).
2. Plate 11 of that atlas, a general map of Wayne County.
3. Plate 26 of that atlas, a map of Romulus.
4. Plate 3 of that atlas shows a map of four townships—Twp. 3 South, Range 8 East (Van Buren); Twp. 3 South, Range 9 East (Romulus); Twp. 4 South, Range 8 East (Sumpter); and Twp. 4 South, Range 9 East (Huron).
5. Deed, 23 Feb. 1866, Wayne Co., MI. [Wayne Co., MI, Deed Records, vol. 121, p. 32; LDS FHL film 926358.]
6. Deed, 11 Mar. 1871, Wayne Co., MI. [Wayne Co., MI, Deed Records, vol. 153, p. 18; LDS FHL film 926374.]
7. Deed, 23 Mar. 1871, Wayne Co., MI. [Wayne Co., MI, Deed Records, vol. 153, p. 156; LDS FHL film 926374.]
8. Deed, 29 Mar. 1871, Wayne Co., MI. [Wayne Co., MI, Deed Records, vol. 153, p. 212; LDS FHL film 926374.]
9. See The Collection of John Parker Clark (part 2) for the letters which passed between August and his parents.
10. A copy of an auction poster from the collection of Sylvia Wheeler Mallonee, 2012.
