1900 Nicholson Shooting

We were on the road for a couple of weeks so I was unable to post any new articles.  One of our stops along the way included a tour of the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio.  The location for the filming of "Shawshank Redemption," starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, filmed in 1993.  

The reason I bring this up is because of anecdotal stories we heard during the tour.  One in particular of how the wife of the last warden and his family to live at the prison residence.  She was shot in the stomach by a rifle, as it supposedly fell off a shelf and fired, killing her.  It could never be proved whether it was an accident, intentional by her husband, or suicide by her.  

So now, as I'm browsing through some articles in "The Fowlerville Review," dated October 19, 1900, I happened up the following article.  This one does appear to be an accident but I'm prone to wonder how often things like this happened over the years.

By the way, if you ever get anywhere close to Mansfield, Ohio, I highly recommend your heading to the Ohio State Reformatory.  You can choose either a guided tour or a self-guided one (which we took).  After seeing all there is, we came away so very thankful for so much.  Following are a few pictures from our tour:

~~The centerfront of this massive reformatory, formerly used to house up to 1900 inmates.

~~A shot of the stairway heading up to the warden's living quarters.  I'm pretty sure the light flare at the bottom of the staircase is an "orb" -- they say the place is haunted!

~~The west cells, the first to be built between 1886 and 1896.

 ~~The east cells, built a few years later, with caging bars closing in all six floors of cells so inmates would not jump or be pushed to their death to the concrete floor below.

~~The shower room, which the inmates dubbed "the carwash" as they'd walk down the line of the piping, letting the water spray over them.

~~The chapel, where every Sunday all 1900 inmates were filed into this room for their weekly dose of reforming.  Now the place is overrun with pigeons!

1907 Grain Elevator Fire

On the 13th, I posted some information regarding the Rounsville house.  The other day, as I'm doing some research in 1907, this article caught my attention:

Two years later, a tornado came through this area and took off the top part of the grain elevator, no doubt some of being the newly-installed fire-proof roof.

1897 Cold Advertisement

While looking for an advertisement for the holidays, I came across this advertisement in The Fowlerville Review, January, 1897.  Thought it was kind of fun seeing that "all" authorities agreed, while in today's world it is usually "4 out of 5 doctors."

Place and Gale used to be located on North Grand Avenue, about where the east entrance to Maria's School of Dance is.  

1898 Phineas Stewart

I received a call recently, the woman asking if I knew anything about a Phineas Stewart, b. 10.8.1794, d. 7.27.1898 -- 104 years old at the time of his death.  The name did not ring a bell with me, even if it seemed I got to know so many that came before us, through their names, while doing research.  

But with so much information gleaned from one headstone, along with the curious question of so many females preceding him in death -- five wives and two daughters, to be exact -- I couldn't resist doing a little extra research.

Phineas Stewart died a year before the West Howell Cemetery was established, but his monument stands. 

 On the front of the pillar, his name along with his first wife's name are etched in the stone:

 Then on the south side of the monument, two more wives:

 On the north side, another two wives:

 

 On the backside, or east side, his two daughters:

My curiosity was definitely aroused so I headed to the Howell Library for a dual purpose; family research and to see if I could find anything on P. Stewart.  As it were, I had luck on both counts.  When I reeled through microfilm from the Livingston Republican, I found the following article:

Curious, no mention of his five wives or of what he may have done for employment.

1903 Gehringer is Born

Oops, one more post on Charley Gehringer!

The other day, I met up with someone that wanted to do a little research in the Fowlerville historical collection.  I figured since he was busy, I would do a little research of my own.  There is a box in the collection labeled "Charles Gehringer" and I decided to breeze through it.  There are a number interesting articles that go beyond what I have posted, and anyone is more than welcome to come browse the information.

There was almost too much to post but I did find the above picture that just had to show up here.  The Detroit News published this picture in 1954 of Gehringer when he was a mere two years old.  He was born May 11, 1903 in Iosco county.  His parents were Leonard and Theresa, and he was one of nine children born to the couple.

1909 Marshall Fowler, Sr.

In 1909, the following article showed up in the local newspaper, The Fowlerville Review:

With Mary and Ralph Fowler have so many children, I figure this must be one of their descendants.  I did a quick search on www.familysearch.org and found that in 1909, Marshall Fowler would have been 69 years old.  In the 1900 census, it showed him married to Lucinda, who was two years younger than him, and at that point they had been married 39 years.  They had two boys -- Marshall (Jr) and Roy, who were 29 and 23 years respectively in 1900.

From the census information, Marshall was a farmer with his son Roy helping out as a laborer.  Marshall Jr was shown as a "horse trader."

If anyone has more to add, that would be greatly appreciated.  Does anyone know where the farm might have been?

1901 Beehive at Jay Redfield's Farm

A few weeks back, my husband and I happened to be taking care of errands and deliveries, and one of my stops was at the village office.  What fortunate timing it was.  Both Sherrie and Kathy urged us back outside to check out a honeycomb that was just discovered in one of the trees at the front of the village office building, now that the leaves had all fallen off.

 

I ducked under the tree and snapped the following two pictures before a beekeeper came to take it down and try to save as many bees as possible:

Coincidentally, as I'm searching through interesting information to post to the website, I came across the following article, published in 1901 in The Fowlerville Review about a beehive:

~~Jay Redfield has, in all probability, the largest beehive in this county at least.  He kept finding honey bees in the chamber of his residence and an examination revealed the fact that a swarm of bees had entered through a large knot hole in the siding and filled more or less of the space between the studding.  A few days after the discovery was made, the bees swarmed and Mr. Redfield put a hive over the knot hole and captured part of the swarm, the others still remaining in the house.  The only disadvantage is in having to tear the house down to get the honey.

Makes one wonder what he eventually did to solve the problem, or did the honey just remain in the wall forever.

1899 Pasacas Passes Away

Fowlerville used to be a major hub for horse racing -- from the mid-1800s way into the 1990s (I believe).  At a least a few times each summer, there is still some harness racing to be enjoyed at the fairgrounds where you can place a bet and watch some fun racing.

But back to the mid-to-late 1800s, horse racing was one of the main hobbies and even a business.  W.W. Starkey, the owner of the local stave mill (feel free to search on his name for more information) owned Pasacas.  This horse, as reported in the local newspaper, was a prolific winner.  I did some quick research online and found some genealogy for a Pasacas, born in 1870.  You can check out the chart by clicking here.  I'm fairly certain it is the same Pasacas that W.W. Starkey owned, as the horse was born 29 years earlier to the article shown below that was published in The Fowlerville Review:

1898 More Burgling

Yesterday's post spoke of F.G. Rounsville's house being ransacked.  Just within a few weeks, two more blurbs in the local newspaper showed up indicating more was going on in the village than just random hits on houses:

~~There seems to be a considerable amount of petty thieving on Gardan lane and some of the residents there may form a vigilance committee.

And,

~~The tramps have a new game now.  They are quick to catch on to every little idea that will help them to a hand out.  Just now, they are soldiers.  They say they wanted to enlist to fight for Cuban independence but the surgeon turned them down on account of some physical defect and they are working their way back home because they have not the money to pay their fare.  Just at this time the story is a go and rarely fails to bring a good bite to eat.

I'm thinking some things never change!

1897 Rounsville Home Burgled

F.G. Rounsville was a successful businessman here in Fowlerville at the turn of the 19th century.  He operated the grain elevator at the railroad tracks at South Grand avenue and was operating it while living across the road in a large, spacious home his family built around 1878.

In 1897, someone decided what was Rounsville's was his also, as reported in an article found in The Fowlerville Review:

~~Bold, Bad Burglar~~During Saturday afternoon, the residence of F.G. Rounsville was broken into and about $75 worth of small articles stolen.  The house was ransacked from bottom to top and things generally overhauled.  The chisel with which the door was broken open was left laying on the dresser.  Cora Cardotte saw a man in the yard as she was passing the house and upon learning of the burglary, gave a description of him which was given to the officers and a diligent search was made among the crowd.  One person was arrested upon suspicion but proved not to be the party she saw and no further clue could be obtained.

I have a huge amount of information on F.G. Rounsville (and a picture from one of the yearbooks -- see below) and others in his family, but the name of Cora Cardotte does not ring a bell with me in all of the research I've done so I went looking on one of the genealogy sites -- still no luck.  Has anyone heard of her or this family?



1899 Henry Handy

Handy Township was named after Calvin Handy, one of the early settlers in this area.  In 1899, Henry Handy passed away.  The article from the newspaper follows:

About the only genealogy work I've really done has been for G.L. and Carrie Adams for Through the Eyes of a Country Editor.  But, while researching for that book, whenever my eye would catch something of interest, or an obituary, or a commonly-known name for this area, I would keep track of those articles.

The Handy name caught my eye, but now I'm wondering if anyone would like to fill in the blanks on his genealogy, other than what was mentioned in the article. 

1900 Automobile Sighting

I got a kick out of the above blurb published in The Fowlerville Review in 1900.  As hardly any of us can imagine, the sight of a car was almost as rare as seeing Halley's Comet.  In the village of Fowlerville, it wouldn't be until 1903-5 before a couple of residents actually owned a car. 

 

And then, can you visualize, the sight of one of those cars chugging down Grand River avenue amidst horses tethered to the hitching posts or horses pulling buggies and wagons and all being startled by the unusual sound. 

 

I find it curious, even though we are out in the country somewhat, now it is the rare sight of a horse and rider that draws our attention (and my delight).

 

As a side note, as I wait for some pictures and information coming my way to post on this site, I am going to randomly grab articles from my over 300-page notebook cataloguing digital pictures of microfilm from the newspapers.  If anyone is interested in a particular subject during the years, in particular, 1874-1929, please feel free to comment or e-mail and I will look to see if I have what you are hoping for. 

 

In the meantime, don't forget to attend Christmas in the 'Ville, this Saturday, in the downtown area.  I'll be doing the 5K walk/run.

1896 Balloonist

Christmas in the 'Ville has become one of Fowlerville's major events.  There's the 5k walk/run and a 1-mile fun run, stores stay open later, carriage rides, food at the fire hall, and many more fun things -- including the whole day capped off with a parade.  Part of what is quickly becoming a tradition is the arrival of numerous hot-air balloons during the day.  By evening, the balloons are packed away but the baskets, with their flame-throwing ability, are put into exciting use as they are paraded through the downtown area, shooting fire high into the air.

In 1896, long before all of this extraneous fun, hot-air balloons were a huge part of figuring out the flight of humans.  The following article, published in the local newspaper, showed how Prof. C. Bartholomew was working on long-distance abilities of hot-air travel.  The questions I wish could be answered are:  1) was he successful, and 2) did any messages make it back to Jackson?

Out of curiosity, I did a little googling -- you know, type in all the relevant words in www.google.com, hoping for a hit -- and came up with the following from someone's travel blog:

While in Adelaide the dashing, and daring Professor C. Bartholomew got a chance to perform his aerial act. Dangling from a hot air balloon from a height of approx. 2,000 feet, the one-eyed dare-devil performed on a trapeze that was dangling beneath the balloon. He then leaped from the balloon strapped to a parachute. Unfortunately for the Professor his parachute failed to deploy properly and he slammed into the chimney of a nearby hotel. He unbelievably suffered only minor injuries, but was reluctant to perform for the remainder of the tour.

And, a picture:



And now that you know a little bit about ballooning, be sure to come out with everyone else to Christmas in the 'Ville this Saturday, December 1.

1910 Illinois Tractor

Although this is not Fowlerville, or even Michigan, history, I thought I would post the following picture and explanation of a photograph of an Illinois tractor provided to the library by Don Knodle.  I have to believe something very similar to this type of machinery would have been used in this area.

 

1905 L.S. Palmerton Thievery

Yesterday's post was about L.S. Palmerton's lunchroom.  As I continued to peruse some articles from The Fowlerville Review in 1905, the following blurb caught my eye:

The other evening as L.S. Palmerton was peacefully slumbering, he was awakened by hearing one of his hens squawking.  He arose and hastily dressed and with revolver in hand, proceeded to investigate, but when he reached the coop, the disturber had made his escape.  Mr. Palmerton went back to bed, but it was not long before he was again disturbed and he again arose and took his lantern and revolver and on going into the horse barn, he saw the intruder peeking over a board at him.  Mr. Palmerton then proceeded to empty the contents of his revolver, which soon brought the animal to the floor dead.  It was only Barney Teachworth's pet coon that was looking for a chicken for a midnight lunch.

1905 L.S. Palmerton Lunchroom

While doing research for The Fowlerville Chronicles, I came across the above picture in the Howell Archives.  It was difficult at the time to date this photograph, but we are lucky enough to have had Nellie Glenn, Fowlerville's historian back in the 1950s and 60s, write names on the back of the picture.  She indicated the man second from the left, with the crutch, as L.S. Palmerton.

While doing additional research, this time for Through the Eyes of a Country Editor, I found the date of this picture.  An article in 1905 in The Fowlerville Review, read as follows:

L.S. Palmerton has rented the building formerly occupied as a millinery shop, first door north of McIntosh & Stevens, and has opened his restaurant business there.

Curiously, only a mere couple of months later, the following was found:

L.S. Palmerton has closed his lunchroom and gone out of business.

And then,

The building recently occupied by L.S. Palmerton has been rented to Lansing parties, who will conduct a fruit and confectionery store, so we understand.

This storefront was bought by the Novara family and would someday become the storefront purchased by the Spagnuolo family.

1905 Good Joke

Now that I've gotten up-to-date on e-mails sent to me, I've taken to browsing through some random history I have catalogued and will be posting articles for a while.  If anyone would like to send more e-mails, I'm always happy to post updates.

Thad Andrews was a milkman in the Fowlerville area, at one point having purchased a wagon and supplies from Joshua Dunn.  During an era when automobiles were occasionally coming through the village and the horse and carriage were still the staple for many, this article caught my attention: 

Good Joke~~Thad Andrews played a very nice little joke on himself on Wednesday.  He came to the village and hitched his horse near the Palmerton block and later had occasion to move the rig across the street.  He purchased a new coat and finding a rig hitched where he first left his rig, he absentmindedly put the coat in the carriage.  Later he remembered what he had done and went after his coat, but the rig was gone.  A little later Fred Abbott telephoned to A.R. Miner's store, where the coat was purchased, that upon reaching his home and unloading his purchases from his carriage, he found himself in possession of a new coat.

1897 Cemetery Vandalism

A few months back, I put together an author talk that I titled, "Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves."  I put together a power point presentation and I wanted to put it on the website but so far I haven't figured out how to do that (if anyone can help me, please feel free to e-mail me).

 

In the meantime, I'm adding a few of the articles I found in the local newspaper in the late 1800s and early 1900s on this topic.

 

Cemeteries seem to be a draw for vandalism, and it is nothing new.  The following article was published in 1897: 

1896 Egg Thief

Even though this wasn't necessarily about Fowlerville, I couldn't resist posting this short blurb found in the local newspaper in 1896:

I wonder if the same happened in the village.

1900 Ora Fowler Grieve and Arthur Fowler

Following are additional photographs of Ora Fowler Grieve.

 

The first one shows Ora on a Fowlerville farm team.  He is the third from the right.

 

The next picture has been estimated to have been taken around 1895, and is probably the wedding picture for Arthur and Hattie Fowler. 

This last picture shows Ora Fowler in later years.  He passed away in 1968.