Despite the many genealogies that have been done for the Superior Township Mulholland families, many with undocumented daughters, the surprise was discovery of Sarah Mulholland.
Sarah’s story was unknown until close examination of early Washtenaw County deed records in 2020. Like sisters Phebe and Eliza, she married and moved away, and was lost from family stories. It is interesting to note that the speculative relationship to Phebe Mulholland Barber has links to Sarah’s story, as both settled in Mt. Morris, Genesee, Michigan.
A story hinted in land records
Sarah’s story began to unravel with a deed record dating from 1836. Two females, Sarah and Jane Mulholland, purchased a parcel of land in the newly growing village of Dixboro, Washtenaw County. This deed is unusual for several reasons, particularly the fact that the purchasers are female.
Multiple Mulhollands bought lots in the village, and their father Samuel is known to have lived in Dixboro in his later years as did brothers James and John. James had early dealings with John Dix, the town founder who tried to build the platted subdivision as the future major city in the region, a plan that collapsed when the railroad was routed through nearby Ann Arbor. Dixboro remains a small village today with numerous historic buildings and a cemetery holding several generations of Mulhollands.
Following the deed trail showed this Dixboro lot was sold in 1846 by Jane and her then husband, Horace Stebbins, to Jane’s brother William. Jane is documented as a a daughter of Samuel Mulholland. Also listed as sellers were William and Sarah Sissons of Genesee County. Not a huge leap to think the Sarah Sissons was originally Sarah Mulholland, although she lived rather distant from Superior Township, and other records show her maiden name to be Mulholland.
Sarah Mulholland Sissins of Genesee County, Michigan
As the story emerged, it is likely Sarah arrived with her Irish family in Superior Township in 1833 at age 13 but no records have been found of her there in the 1830s other than the deed from 1836.
Sarah Sissins (or Sissons, as there are multiple spellings in records) was married to William Sissons, an immigrant from England. No records have been found for their early lives. From the records of children and tombstones in the Mt. Morris cemetery, Sarah’s maiden name was Mulholland. Her oldest child, James R. Sissins, was born in 1842.
When the family settled in Genesee is unknown. William is an original early settler who bought land patents in the county in 1837, and locally registered in 1847. He and his family appear in the 1850 census but he was not on the 1840 one. It is likely he married Sarah in about 1841 at which time they settled into their farming life.
William and Sarah had seven known children, two who died in childhood. William died in 1868 at the age of 58. Sarah appears in deed records after her husband's death, buying land in the village of Mt. Morris and a plot in the countryside and in the 1870 census living with her two youngest children. Sarah briefly remarried John Delbridge in December 1875 at the age of 55 (listed as Sarah Sissins Mulholland in the register), but the marriage was short lived as she died just over a year later in January 1876 at the age of 56.
She is buried along with William and several children in the Sissins plot in Mount Morris Cemetery, in an area still mostly rural with the farms continuing that were established by the early settlers in the area.
Dowry lands?
At the time of the original purchase in Dixboro, Sarah (age 17) and Jane (age 12) were still girls. Not many young women were land owners, and it seems unlikely they could purchase the Dixboro parcel without funds from a relative.
What make this purchase interesting is that a similar event occurs two years later, when land was transferred to two of their youngest sisters, Eliza and Mary Ann, at the time ages 12 and 10 respectively. While the reason for these land gifts is unknown, it is possible this was seen as a way to ensure a dowry for the girls and some personal financial stability for the future. All these lands were eventually sold by the husbands after marriage, except for Mary Ann’s share, sold by the husband of Eliza who was her guardian.
The value of land to the Mulholland family can be seen in the growth of their holdings once they came to the US, and the prosperous farms indicated from agricultural census records. These farms remained in the family throughout the nineteenth century, as did the land of the Sissins in Genesee which passed to oldest son James R. Sissins. James died in 1907, with census and directory listings showing he was a farmer to the end.
