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Forgotten Stories

To Traverse Point and Return, M.E.C. Bates

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Did you ever ride down to Traverse Point and back by way of Old Mission, all in one summer evening and night?  If not, one of the freshest, most charming pleasures awaits you that ever your life held.  Give your imagination the rein for a little space, and in fancy take the trip with us, to-day.

"The Old Wilson Road (V)," lithography by William S. Holdsworth, 1901.
“The Old Wilson Road (V),” watercolor by William S. Holdsworth, 1901.

It is verging on five o’clock p.m. when we leave Traverse City.  The sun is dropping towards the western hills, and sending long level golden beams into the eastern belt of pines and oaks as we leave the town behind, and sweep around the bight of the bay to the Peninsula.  The bay is a misty blue with long lines of sparkling waves rushing shoreward, for though the air is warm with a languid, luxurious August heat, there is a brisk breeze from the northwest that sweeps through it—cool, bracing, exhilarating.  In a few moments the town is dim behind us,–white houses, mill stacks with their plumes of smoke, church spires, and the castle-like walls of the asylum all melting together into the dim outlines.  With swift and steady stroke our horses’ hoofs fall upon the hard, level road, and the speed of our going, with the rush of the wind in our faces, makes us feel as if it were wings instead of feet that are bearing us onward.  The pines and cedars have closed in on both sides of the road.  The air is spicy with resin and balm.  All the little nooks are ablaze with goldenrod, blue with wild asters, or white with yarrow, that “dusty beggar, sitting by the wayside in the sun.”  Now and then, a pretty clearing opens on the right, with a cosy white farm house set down in its bit of orchard, or green meadows, with a bright bed of flowers by the door, and beyond, fields of corn standing stately and tall in serried ranks, like soldiers on parade.  Then the wood closes in again with its sweet, dark greenness.  To the right it is close and dense.  To the left is always the bay, so near we could toss a pebble in it through its fringe of birches and cedars.  The wind freshens and the white caps dance out beyond the pebbly shallows.  The crisp waves run up the beach and fall with a musical crash on the shore.  Marion Island begins to loom large and green ahead.  The little haunted island shows its fringe of bushes and stunted pines more clearly.  The bay shore begins to take a great curve.  The islands are abreast and then drop astern.  The sun is shorn of his beams, and, a great glowing ball of fire, drops below the purple hills.  A sudden, dewy breath as of twilight and the coming night sweeps out of the thickets.  Tall pines stand in stately colonnades along the beach.  There is a dock, ancient and wave-worn, running out into the water.  This must be Bower’s Harbor, and we look out towards the haunted island, half expecting to see the ghost of the old Sunnyside come steaming out from behind the bluffs as she speeds to her old landing place.  But no.  Her timbers strewed the beach of Lake Michigan long years ago, and bluff Captain Emory sleeps his last sleep somewhere under these northern pines, and for her there has never been given a ghostly resurrection.  On and on, the road sweeps around o the west and climbs a steep way cut on the side of the bluff, so near and so overhanging the water that the spray from the tips of the great green curling waves now coming in falls over us.  The stout horses tug and bend to their task, and presently we are out on the top of the highlands, and the world lies open and fair before us, and this is Traverse Point.

The "Old Fish Shanty" on the shore of the Holdsworth property, Old Mission Peninsula; lithograph by William S. Holdsworth, undated.
The “Old Fish Shanty” on the shore of the Holdsworth property, Old Mission Peninsula;  watercolor by William S. Holdsworth, undated.

What shall we say of it?  Here are the beginnings only as yet of the improvement of one of the loveliest spots for summer homes in all this beautiful Resort Region.  It is not fair to tell now of what is,–for that is changing so rapidly to the far different what-it-will-be.  These pretty cottages rising here and there are only the avant couriers of uncounted others to come.  Here is a children’s paradise, where all the summer through the little ones may gather roses for their cheeks, and strength and litheness to their supple limbs.  Here—but why foretell? The swift years are telling the story of them both,–beautiful Traverse Point and fair Ne-ah-ta-wan-ta, “placid waters.”  What will never change are rose of dawn and gold of sunset, silver glory of moonlight and purple of twilight, misty gray of summer rains and strength of wild waves when the winds send them sweeping in from the northwest in long lines of foam crested rollers, sparkle of blue under the noonday sun and glint of stars in fathomless depths of midnight in heaven above and water below,–a thousand variations of tint and form, of sound and motion, of shadow and light, and all beautiful beyond expression.

"Path to Shanty on the East Shore of West Bay," lithograph by William S. Holdsworth, 1900.
“Path to Shanty on the East Shore of West Bay,” watercolor by William S. Holdsworth, 1900.

But time flies; we must not stop for rhapsody.
Back to the eastward we go and are off across Peninsula.  The west is all aglow with gorgeous sunset hues of orange and crimson and dusky gold.  There is a strange sense of wide expanse and unwonted freedom.  We look to see why, and find it is because there are no fences in this township.

“How beautiful it is!” we say to each other.  Here is a wide stretch of meadow land; just beyond it melts into a yellow stubble where the wheat was not long ago; then acres of silvery oats and then again the corn, rustling in the evening breeze, while again great patches of potatoes—green tufts, dotting the well-tilled brown soil, come down to the very wagon tracks.  It is a great Acadian garden.  The road winds and turns.  It seems further than we thought.  We must have come out of our way, for part of the time we are surely going back on our former direction.  Shall we stop and inquire?  No.  It is fun to be lost in Peninsula, for we can’t get far away without getting into the water, and we must come out somewhere.  So on we go in the fast gathering twilight.  We are in the midst of the great Peninsula fruit farms.  Far and wide on either side stretch the orchards.  Those—green and glossy in the dim light—are cherry trees; they lost their ruby fruitage long ago; these are pears—loaded down, and with their branches propped to keep from breaking, and already the air is getting spicy with their ripening; yonder are plum trees, more purple than the purple twilight shadows with the bloom on their masses of fruit,–and everywhere are apples,–trees gnarled and knotty with age and crimson with clustering fruit,–trees young and vigorous and heavy with golden treasure,–surely the fabled apples of the Hesperides were not so well worthy of fame as these.  There are handsome farm houses set down among these orchards.  The light is dim now, but we can see and feel evidences of thrift, of comfort, and of substantial competence.  Lights twinkle here and there through the trees.  The road is hilly now, and we go swiftly up one rise and down another, till soon the road bends again and we sweep out on the East Bay shore.  We are at Old Mission.

The Old Mission Inn, once known as Porter House, where Bates sat "under the great maples". Little has changed to the exterior of the Inn in the century since she rested there. Photograph courtesy of the History Center of Traverse City.
The Old Mission Inn, once known as Porter House, where Bates sat “under the great maples”. Little has changed to the exterior of the Inn in the century since she rested there. Photograph courtesy of the History Center of Traverse City.

Here we stop for a little rest before we fairly start on our homeward way.  We sit under the great maples at the Old Mission house, and watch the far off stars, and the distant lights across the bay at Elk Rapids, and listen to the whispering of the waves down on the beach and the moaning of the wind in the trees overhead, and dream.  By and by the moon rises large and fair over the eastward lying hills beyond the bay.  There is a path of silver across the water.  The shadows of the great trees lie heavy on the grass.  The lights in the cottages down at Old Mission Beach Resort begin to go out one by one.

It is time for home going.  The good horses are rested and ready for home.  Once more their hoof beats ring on the hard, level road.

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“Birches on the East Shore of West Bay,” watercolor by William S. Holdsworth, date obscured.

Down the center of Peninsula this time.  Right along the high ridge that is the “backbone,” in the old settlers’ dialect.  On either side are deep ravines, dark with shadows.  Overhead the trees shake shadowy hands with each other from either side of the way.  The farm houses are all dark.  The world is dead with silence but for the echoing hoof beats.  On and on.  At last we rush down a long winding hill road, and out on the level lowlands.  To the right, the country with its fields.  To the left the beautiful bay sparkling with silver in the moonlight.  We are tired of saying “How beautiful!” but are silent and drink in the still loveliness of the moonlit water, the quiet fields, and the shadowy woods.

Another hour, and we cross again to the other side.  The West Bay welcomes us with its wind-tossed waves.  The village with its white houses stands still and fair under the oaks in the moonlight.  It is its silent streets that echo with our horses’ hoof beats now.  Forty miles and more of riding between supper and sleep, and such a ride!

Home at last!

——————————————————————————-

Notes: M.E. C. (Martha E. Cram Bates) Bates was an important literary figure of the Traverse area, arriving here in 1862.  She married Thomas T. Bates, the editor of the Grand Traverse Herald, working in various capacities for that newspaper over the next thirty years.  She especially enjoyed keeping a column in the Herald called “The Sunshine Society”, which entertained children with poems and stories.  As an early woman journalist, she helped to found the Michigan Woman’s Press Association in the 1890’s.

Martha Bates was co-author (with Mary K. Buck) of two books, Along Traverse Shores (copies are available at Traverse Area District Library) and A Few Verses for a Few Friends.  The present article is taken from the first volume.  M.E.C. Bates died in 1905.

Mystery Photo

The Eagle Has Landed Solved!

Recognize this imposing figure? I am sure you have seen him looking down at you from his perch on a building! Hint: Know of any surviving Art Deco buildings in Traverse City?

Thanks to the Kiwanis Club of Traverse City, we have our answer! This imposing fellow is perched above the entrances to the US Post Office on Union Street in downtown Traverse City. Next time you’re walking past, remember to give him a friendly wave; it’s always lonely at the top!

 

Nature

Growing Your Own House: The Mites of Maple Bladder Galls

In early summer you may have noticed small pouches on red and silver maple leaves.  If you open one up, you will find—nothing at all.  Or so it seems.  In fact, the creatures that live there are swarming all around.

They are microscopic mites of the eriophyid family, so small you would need a 400X magnification to study them in detail.  Unlike most mites, they have but four legs—not eight—with two pairs clustered around the animal’s mouth.  Dwelling within such a small space, eriophyids hardly have need of legs at all: for most of their lives their universe is no bigger than the gall they inhabit.

The life cycle of the mite is simple.  They mate and reproduce within the secure enclosure of the gall, producing several generations within a summer.  Before leaves change color in autumn, obeying a signal we do not know, they migrate out of their chamber to the bud scales of next year’s leaves or to protected areas under loose bark.  Dormant, they wait there for the cold blast of winter.

In spring, before leaves expand, they enter young leaves on the underside, their presence initiating the balloon-growth of many pouches, the number ranging from a half dozen or so to an ugly multitude that deforms the leaf.  While the mites undoubtedly sap energy from trees, they cause little permanent damage.  Gardeners and foresters generally ignore their presence, not wasting effort or chemicals to discourage them.

Maple Bladder Galls on Silver Maple, Traverse City.
Maple Bladder Galls on Silver Maple, Traverse City.

I think leaves adorned with crimson maple bladder galls are attractive, resembling miniature Christmas decorations in the month farthest removed from that holiday.  They can be pointed or inflated depending upon the species of mite involved and colors vary, frequently starting off green and becoming red before fading to a dull brown.  Can they be thought of as a rash trees get?  Not exactly, since they do infect the surface tissues alone, unlike human dermatitis.

Another kind of eriophyid attacks plants in a different way.  Instead of making galls, it secretes a chemical that induces plants to grow a forest of slender hairs called an erineum.  An erineum—taken from the Greek word for fleece—can be found on the lower surface of leaves of many plants: oaks, maples, viburnum, and grapes are especially affected.  It may appear as a velvet fuzz, white or commonly red in color.

As with the gall-forming eriophyids, the erineum mites are exceedingly difficult to see even with a powerful magnifier.  A twenty-power lens might reveal their presence, though sharp eyes will be called for.  A microscope, of course, would work better.

Somehow I connect these animals with larger herbivores like bison..  I imagine them roaming over the fields of hairs they caused to grow, feeding upon them as the bison would, a prairie in a square inch.   Throughout early summer they graze, finally retiring to bud scales and bark for the winter.  Occasionally a stiff wind will blow them right out of the erineum, something bison do not have to worry about.  Of course, the advantage for the mite is that it might get blown to a new tree, fertile ground to establish a new miniature prairie ecosystem.

Nature performs its work at every scale: planet, ecosystem, organism, organs, tissues, and cells.  Isaac Asimov, the famous science fiction writer, once wrote about exploring the world extending from his backdoor.  After much study he had gotten as far as a few feet from his porch, so numerous were the species he encountered.  Most likely he did not get around to the mite-formed galls or erineums on his shade trees.

Richard Fidler is a retired teacher of biology, a Traverse City historian and an editor of the Grand Traverse Journal.

Then and Now

Windows to Our Past: Traffic Warning Signs Along Small Roadways

I am a member of a tiny group of history buffs entitled—we think amusingly—the Backspacers.  We occupy seats in a local coffee place for hours at a time, fueling our discussion of old buildings, old people, and old ways of doing things with plenty of pie and coffee.  While we have enjoyed long residencies in the Traverse area, none of us was born here.  For this we suffer the unspoken scorn of those few families that boast two or three generations in Northern Michigan.  That, however, does not raise our hackles in the least: we accept our short-termer status with grace.

One of the traits of us Backspacers is a pronounced tendency to linger over everyday things that express a connection to the past.  Long have we marveled at manhole covers with the writing “Citizens Telephone Company,” at the blockhouse just under the Union Street dam that was said to hold money for workers in the Flour Mill located there, at the faded printing on a landmark building declaring it to be the “Traverse City Gas Company,” at Civil Defense bomb shelter signs, at the evidence of fire that nearly consumed the Wilson Antiques building.  One of us—me, actually—spent time looking for cinders along Railroad Street, a curving road that paralleled tracks that accommodated coal-burning steam locomotives.

For Backspacers automobile travel can be hazardous.  Rapid stops occur as one or the other of us abruptly notices something out of time: an artesian well, an old home designed by a local architect more than a hundred years ago, the site of an old sawmill, or highway signs that suggest something misplaced in time.  In particular, those signs, yellow with black icons, fill me with joy.

DSCF0164Take note of the warning sign advertising the presence of a fire station, found on Veterans Drive and elsewhere, no doubt.  Is it not comical—the silhouette of a 1930’s fire engine complete with helmeted driver?  How well it communicates “fire truck” with the ladder clearly hanging from the side of the truck.  No modern fire truck could substitute since most of them could be confused with any delivery truck in profile.  Still, you wonder how long we will keep an icon that resembles artwork from a children’s storybook.  A long time, this Backspacer hopes.

IMG_2571The sign for “Farm Equipment” portrays a stereotypical view of the farmer.  An individual with a wide-brimmed hat sits on a primitive tractor, the stalk of grass clamped in his jaws apparently too small to be stenciled.  A modern fancy tractor with its enclosed air-conditioned cab is not pictured—since it lacks the clear connections among man, machine, and farming.  “Cattle Crossing” signs—the animals artfully represented–similarly urge caution in rural communities.

DSCF0165The sign for “Playground” is equally charming: it shows two children on a teeter totter.  Oddly, teeter totters have been banned from modern playgrounds upon the discovery that they have injured large numbers of children.  Still, the image keeps the thing alive—at least for us adults—though young children have no idea what a real teeter totter looks like.  Another sign indicating children at play shows a boy (presumably) in shorts running carefree, possibly across the roadway.  He wears a curious conical hat, something I have never seen on a boy’s head.  Does it indicate archaic style or a figure from a foreign land?

DSCF0170The image of a truck heading down a steep incline denotes a steep hill ahead, but the six-wheeler pictured and the admonition “Use Second Gear” seems out of place and time since it implies a manual transmission with three forward gears.  You can find such a sign on Leelanau County Road 616.  Of course, all of us old timers remember the installation of the “Runaway Truck Ramp” on M72 leading down to the Bay.  Some of us recall the small truck that wound up in the Bay before that salvation was constructed—was it in the seventies?

DSCF0172Pedestrian crossing images tell us something about our society.  The crossing sign near a school shows a larger figure, wearing pants, with his hand on a smaller figure wearing a skirt.  Hazarding a guess about the gender of the figures—and nowadays this is only a guess not a firm conclusion—a man or boy seems to be walking with his hand upon the girl’s arm.  To me this suggests he is protecting her as she braves traffic in the crosswalk.  Could we have the larger figure wearing the skirt with her hand on the boy?  After all, it is just as likely an older sister is guiding her rambunctious younger brother across the street.  But, no—it is the way it is.  Boys protect girls, not the other way around.

Deer signThen there are the wonderful depictions of animals.  In particular, the antlered icon rearing on its hind legs says “Deer” so boldly no one could miss it.  Often sharpshooters are unable to miss them, too, as they pepper them with indentations with their deer rifles, perhaps in frustration at never hitting the real thing. Bear crossing signs appear nearby, too, near Cadillac along highway M115, for one.  The mother bear and her cub are shown, providing gender equality to the buck shown on the deer sign.

Backspacers are not content to note the existence of relics.  They must do research to find out more.  Are the signs of Michigan recognized in other states?  In other countries?  Exactly when were they created and who does the creating?  The web provides us with a few answers: The United States Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration sets the standards for traffic signs.  It publishes the official manual for signing, the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).  The manual has been constantly updated from its beginnings in 1935, the latest issued in 2009.

The 1971 edition expanded the kinds and numbers of signs considerably.  An effort was made to bring signs from various nations into conformity, telling us that the rearing deer beloved of Backspacers and most Americans can be seen in countries that deer inhabit.  The figure for Japan, though, faces the opposite direction from its American counterpart since Japanese drive on the left side of the road.  Perhaps the antiquated fire truck pictured on our signs represents those still in operation in less wealthy lands.

The history of standard sign usage goes back to the beginning of automobile travel.  In the first and second decades of the twentieth century there were no standard signs across the United States.  Signs could be any shape, any color, any size—with varying print fonts, messages, and iconic pictures.  In 1927 the Joint Board (a precursor to the MUTCD) published the specifications for the signage we use today.  Warning signs were to be yellow with black print in the shape of a diamond.  The standard shapes and colors for railroad crossings (round), stop signs (octagonal), and informational signs (rectangular) were spelled out in the report.  All at once highway signage had become clear, modern, and universal.

Yellow warning signs have proliferated over the last seventy years, indicating greater sensibility of automobile drivers to their driving environment.  How else to explain “Deaf Child Area”, Moose Crossing, or even an image of a mother duck with her ducklings trailing after—presumably a “Duck Crossing” warning?  We Backspacers hope these images will never disappear even as we proceed into an age without teeter totters and fire trucks without ladders.  Without pretension, they provide windows to our not-so-distant past.

Sessions, Gordon M., Traffic Devices: Historical Aspects Thereof, Washington, D.C.: The Institute of Traffic Engineers, 2029 K. Street N. W., Washington, D.C. 20006, 1971

Richard Fidler is a retired teacher of biology, a Traverse City historian and an editor of the Grand Traverse Journal.

History

Hannah St. Mary’s: the Treasure

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Hannah St. Mary’s has a story no one besides a few select people know. This is that story.

It all started when the first settlers came to Hannah. Around 1850 Perry Hannah, A.T. Lay, and James Morgan came and bought a sawmill along the Boardman River and started a business. Then in 1857 Congress passed a grant allowing funds to build a railroad in Michigan from Grand Rapids to Traverse Bay. In 1862, George Nickerson and his family came and urged other families to join them.  In 1872, with the railroad finally finished, settlers came from all over for the cheap land and the plentiful amount of timber.

Later, after the railroad was built, they decided that they needed a church, building and completing it in 1885.  However, the church did not have any altar fixtures in it until around 1896 when they bought their altar. It cost $81.84.  It probably does not seem like much to us, but back then it was a large sum of money.

As always, horrible things seem to constantly plague good people; this church was no exception. In the late 1800s or early 1900s robbers on horseback stole everything from their altar.  That, ladies and gentlemen, is where this story begins…

This is the account told to me by Eugene and Jim Johnson. In 1982 on Easter Sunday Eugene Johnson took his eight-year-old son Jim fishing on Fish Lake.  It was a slightly chilly, foggy day but you could still fish. They also took Jims’ metal detector to fiddle around with later.

At long last, after continually failing to tempt the fish to bite, they pulled out the metal detector. They started in the parking lot, just finding small things such as pennies and other small coins. But as time passed, they wandered on down into the more swampy area of the woods past the campground, and over a bank when suddenly the metal detector was almost off the scale.

When they looked down they saw something that resembled metal. They set the detector down and gently started digging. Soon they discovered that the first piece of metal was the base of a tarnished candlestick. They kept digging as the fog danced around them.  Soon Jim found a potato sack; When it finally left its grave, it was revealed that it was chock-full of more candlesticks and vessels.  As they dug even deeper, they started uncovering more candelabras–and discovered the piece that explained what all the others were, a large cross.

Exterior of St. Mary of Hannah in 2014, a Catholic church in Grand Traverse County, south of Chum's Corners and west of Kingsley on M1-13. Photo credit to GTJ editors.
Exterior of St. Mary of Hannah in 2014, a Catholic church in Grand Traverse County, south of Chum’s Corners and west of Kingsley on M1-13. Photo credit to GTJ editors.

Eugene, once having been an altar boy, recognized the cross as one that might grace an altar. The question was where had these treasures come from? Eugene had never heard of a robbery of a church in the area. But they couldn’t just leave these gorgeous treasures alone could they?

They packed the pieces off and went home to ponder their questions in a safer setting. When they arrived home and explained the situation to Eugene’s wife, Vicky, she suggested, “Why don’t you take it to our pastor, Father Murphy?”

They did just that. After explaining their predicament once again, Father Murphy agreed that the artifacts were in fact like the ones put on a Catholic Church altar. However, while the tarnished silver artifacts were found, none of the gold artifacts that would grace an altar were found.

Father Murphy suggested that he take the items in question and in the meantime he would look through old church files and see if he could find out the story behind the artifacts.

Later that day or the next, Father Murphy called up Eugene and said, “Have I got a story for you.” He then proceeded to tell them that in the late 1800s or early 1900s the Hannah St. Mary’s Church had been robbed on horseback. The number of bandits and who they were are an unsolved mystery to this day.

Pretty amazing story huh? Sadly the story never reached the news. The artifacts were put on display in the church rectory; Diane Gray, a Church secretary,  remembers seeing some tarnished altar pieces in the office.  However, today they are probably stuck in some dusty boxes, shoved into an even dustier basement where their history will never see the light.

I am sorry to say that though many questions have been asked, no one can remember this story and that has made it hard to gather facts, though I am ecstatic that, due to research questions, more people know this fascinating story. I have spent several hours at the Traverse Area District Library looking at newspapers but have not found any mention of the robbery of any churches except for an attempted robbery of the St. Francis church in 1905.  I did discover that the early history of the town was filled with robberies and murders. I spent quite a bit of time talking to members of the church whose families belonged to the church for a long time such as Margret Lewis, Messrs. Ray and Jay Weber and former parish secretaries such as Diane Gray and Terry Javin. I also spoke with Sue Zenner the daughter of Julia Harrand who wrote a book on the history of Hannah St. Mary, and interviewed Eugene and Jim Johnson who were the ones who found the treasure.

Hannah Carr is a student at Kingsley Area Schools, who is passionate about writing and research, although she prefers writing mysteries to nonfiction. Carr was one of the winners of the 2014 Floyd Milton Webster Prize for History (Kingsley), Young Adults, for this article. She plans to be responsible with her Prize winnings, and the Editors look forward to her entry next year.

Celebrate the People

Earliest Settlers of Almira Township

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Contributor Richard Leary and his wife, Eleanor Riehl Leary, are summer residents of Lake Ann.

Addison and Ann Wheelock, my wife’s great-great grandparents, were the first European settlers in the Lake Ann area. The lake, Ann Lake, was named for Ann Wheelock. While Eleanor was doing family history research, I began researching the history of the village of Lake Ann.

The village has a long and fascinating history, extending from its logging days in the 1860s into the early 20th century. At the turn of the century – 19th to 20th – Lake Ann was a tourist destination, with daily trains bringing people from Traverse City and Manistee. An elegant hotel, the Douglas, stood just a short walk from the fine train depot and another hotel, the Lake Hotel, was just down the road.

Lake Ann boasted (if that is the correct term) of a half-dozen or more saloons, good card games and, according to rumors, several brothels.

Among Lake Ann’s more noted historical events were three major fires, each of which nearly destroyed the town. Lake Ann survived and today is a busy, growing community.

But I get ahead of myself.

During the spring and summer of 1862, three groups of settlers arrived in the area that later became Almira Township.  They homesteaded different places and later obtained land grants for their land.

Addison (28) and Ann (28) Wheelock, with their first two children, Ebenezer (6) and Mary (3) settled on the north shore of Ann Lake. Addison named the lake for his wife. The Wheelocks came from Vermont.

Andrew (32) and Almira (30) Burrell arrived about the same time. They settled on the north side of Sancrainte Creek. An area northwest of Ann Lake was informally known as “Sancrainte Hill.” This is consistent with Andrew Burrell’s land grant. The township was later named for Almira Burrell. They apparently only farmed that area briefly as they were listed in the 1880 census in Monroe County in southern Michigan. The Burrells came New York.

Also arriving during 1862 were two brothers from Canada. Alexander (Alex or Alec) and John (30) Heather settled on the northeast end of what is now called Stevens Lake. Alexander Heather obtained a land grant for a quarter section of land in section 3 and a quarter-quarter section in section 14, northeast of Ann Lake. They farmed the land on the shore of Stevens Lake for several years before selling. Only John was listed on the 1870 census. We were unable to find either John or Alexander Heather listed anywhere in the 1880 U.S. census. They may have returned to Canada.

Addison Wheelock, early settler of Almira Township.
Addison Wheelock, early settler of Almira Township. Image credit: Almira Historical Society.

Addison P. Wheelock and his wife Ann were among the first settlers in Benzie County, Michigan, and the first in the Lake Ann area. Soon after they arrived from Vermont in 1862, Addison acquired extensive land on the north shore of Ann Lake. Eventually he owned all the land now occupied by the village of Lake Ann.

It is unknown exactly where the Wheelocks lived. Their home was probably on or very near the new Almira Township Park. As reported in the Grand Traverse Herald on 28 June 1883, Ann Wheelock hosted a Fourth of July party on her property:

There will be a Fourth of July celebration held in the woods on Mrs. Wheelock’s farm, near Lake Ann. L. Palmer will have his swing on the grounds. J. J. Gray and R. Gane will have a stand where refreshments will be sold and there will be boats furnished for those who like excursions on the water. The pleasures of the day will end with an oyster supper in the evening at Mr. Hathaways.

Ann Wheelock, the namesake of Lake Ann.
Ann Wheelock, the namesake of Lake Ann.

Addison Wheelock was among the founders of Almira Township and the village which later became Lake Ann. The lake was named for his wife, Ann McBride Wheelock. He was active in local politics, was the first sheriff of Benzie County and served on many local committees.

Addison acquired much land, most of it land grants from the U.S. government through the General Land Office (GLO). A few pieces of land were purchased from the Auditor General of Michigan in tax sales. By 1872, Addison Wheelock owned nearly 450 acres in Benzie County. On the 1870 census he valued his property at $10,000, far more than anyone else in the area.

After arriving in what is now Lake Ann, Addison and Ann had 5 more children:

1.  Ebenezer T.           – b. Apr. 20, 1856,  Vermont,

2.  Mary Ann              – b. Sept. 24, 1858, Vermont,

3.  Willie A.                – b. Feb. 14, 1863, Michigan,

4.  Hector C.               – b. Apr. 18, 1865, Michigan,

5.  John P.                   – b. Mar. 21, 1868, Michigan,

6.  Julia E.                   – b. Dec. 23, 1869, Michigan,

7.  Amy A.                  – b. Jan. 28, 1876, Michigan,

Sometime during the summer of 1883, Addison P. Wheelock left this area, leaving behind his wife and children. Vague rumors of distant destinations have proven fruitless. In Ann Wheelock’s estate papers, Addison’s address is listed as Bear Lake. This misinformation was probably given by the eldest son, William.  The search, now more than a decade old, continues.

The Leary’s are volunteers at the Almira Historical Society Museum, whose holdings provided some information and images for this article. Please visit the Museum at 19440 Maple Street, Lake Ann, for further information on the history of Almira Township.

Forgotten Stories

Traverse City Day, 1911

August 30, 1911, the Record-Eagle’s headlines told the story:

“GREAT CROWD AT PICNIC

TRAVERSE CITY DAY WAS HUGE SUCCESS

THOUSANDS HAD GOOD TIME

MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN ENJOYED RECREATION

Stores and Factories Closed Most of Day—Greatest Gathering Ever on Grounds Saw Thrilling Ball Game”

Before the Traverse City Film Festival, before the Cherry Festival, Traverse City held a celebration of its own, a festival that carried no overtones of patriotism or commercialism.  Participants were invited to bring their own picnic goodies to the Civic Center (then called the Driving Park) for a day of fun.  Farmers came with their families, and city folk, too.  The rich and poor mingled.  Young and old.  Factory workers and their bosses.  Estimates of the crowd varied between 8,000 and 10,000 people.

They ate and they partied.  There were day fireworks and paper balloons launched for children, a bowery dance (a dance held outside) for the young, and the culminating baseball game for all who cared for that sport.  In 1911—but not in 1912, the final year of Traverse City Day—speeches were offered to the crowd.  One of them stands out because of its relevance to today’s social climate.  Here are the words of the Record-Eagle in describing it.

Judge A. L. Deuel, member of the executive board of the Western Michigan Development Bureau, was the next speaker. Introduced by Mr. Amiotte.  He had many good things to say and he said them in a manner that impressed his hearers with the fact that he knew what he was talking about.  Mr. Deuel is full of vim and fire and his address had a tendency in showing the farmers and the city people as well what it means not to patronize home industries.  “Traverse City is a live city, a beautiful city,” he said, “and she is becoming more beautiful every year.  If we could go through a Rip Van Winkle sleep of twenty years and awake to find the great Grand Traverse region, we would be astounded at the great growth.  All this is taking place just the same only we are not asleep and the development is taking place so fast that we don’t realize it.  If any of you farmers or city people either, are sending to Sears & Roebuck or any other mail order house for goods, cut it out.  The home trade is what we need to help pay our taxes, and Sears Roebuck will never help you.  They wouldn’t know you if you went into their store.  They don’t care, all they want is your money.  We are now living in the best age of the world.  What are you doing for your community?  Work together for your county, your township, and do your best always.  No man can do more than his best, and when you have done that the duty of man to his country is fulfilled.

This concluded the program and everybody flocked to the diamond to see the great battle of baseball, the feature attraction of the day.