2015 Clayton Klein

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Fowlerville's "Walking Man" Passes Away At 95

2/25/15 - Clayton Klein, who had gained attention for his annual walks across Michigan, has passed away. The lifelong Fowlerville resident was 95 when he died on Sunday, two days before his 96th birthday. His daughter, Deb Klein, said he died peacefully under hospice care. A memorial service is planned for 11am on Thursday at the Fowlerville United Methodist Church. A 1936 graduate of Fowlerville High School, Klein was the author of several books, his most recent in 2012 titled “My First 90 Years.” In it, he shared stories and highlights during his life as a farmer, business owner and outdoor adventurer to exploring Canada’s river systems and adventures in Mexico and Central America in the 1960’s. But Klein was probably best known in recent years for his annual walks from 2005 to 2009, when he walked 425 miles from Paradise in the Upper Peninsula to Hell in Putnam Township, on behalf of Hospice of Michigan. He is survived by a son and daughter and two granddaughters. He was preceded in death by his wife of 62 years; Marjorie, who died in 2003. Memorial contributions may be made to Livingston Community Hospice. (JK)

 

       

1894 Dog Days of Summer

Have you every really known the reason why we call July and August the "dog days of summer?" I guess I have but never bothered to find out why -- just thought it was because it was so hot (usually) that even the dogs just want to lie around. Well, I came across the following article, which was re-published in 1974 in The Fowlerville Review from the State Republican:

These are the dog days. They commence July 2 and end August 11. They have nothing to do with dogs except that they make that animal, the pampered pet of many, exceedingly uncomfortable. They get their name from the fact that Sirius, the brightest star in the constellation of the Great Dog, and called the Dog Star, on these days rises and sets with the sun. You can see Sirius any winter night. It is a beautiful bluish star as bright as Jupiter, and rises soon after Orion, the great giant who has stars for a belt and stars for a sword. The ancients, who did not know enough to discover that the world was round, took notice that the days when the dog star kept pace with the sun, they had the greatest heat, and they thought, therefore, this star produced it. There's astronomy for you. ~~State Republican

1894 Windmills for Electricity

Wind farms for generation of power are part of our "modern" technology -- but is it really that modern? While culling through shot after digital shot of microfilm, I came across this article re-published in The Fowlerville Review in 1894, taken from one of the other newspapers that would land in G.L. Adams' office: Can you imagine what our life-style would be today if every yard had a windmill and we were self-sufficient for some of our energy needs?  And, truly, could my laptop have run as efficiently by windmill?!

1894 Coxey Army

Through all of the cataloguing I've been doing of the research material gathered while working on The Fowlerville Chronicles, I have learned bits and pieces of history that I'm finding very interesting to read further on. One such subject matter involves the Coxey Army, which you can read more about by clicking here. My interest was piqued after reading a short article in The Fowlerville Review, which follows:

The Coxey army, which is marching to Washington and which at first was looked upon as a joke, is fast assuming very serious proportions. On Wednesday, one branch of the army stole a train of cars at Butte, Montana, and when a company of deputies attempted to take the train from them, they gave them a pitched battle and retained possession of the train. The federal troops have been called out and things are assuming very serious and alarming conditions.

1893 Handsome Gift

Oh, the things I've come across while cataloguing the microfilm digital pictures I've taken of various issues of the local papers for Fowlerville . . . here's an interesting one from 1893:

An Iowa youth smoked a thousand dozen of a popular brand of cigarettes and sent the empty boxes to the manufacturers, having been told he would receive a handsome present in return. This is the reply he received: 'Send us another thousand and we will send you a coffin.'

So, if this is correct, cigarette manufacturers, even as early as 1893, were already pretty certain the health consequences of smoking were dire, at best.

1891 State News

While going through hundreds of digital shots I've taken of the microfilm at the Howell library, specifically of The Fowlerville Review from 1874-1929 under the auspices of G.L. Adams as well as the years 1930-1972 while owned by the Rudnicki family, every now and again I come across an article not pertaining to Fowlerville but definitely worth showing on The Fowlerville Observer.

The following two articles tell of fraud in one and odd history in the other:

1890 Fly Remedy

Spring will come very quickly and I am now wondering if this particular remedy, as reported in The Fowlerville Review, would actually work. If anyone tries it, please let us know! And then I came across another remedy. Here it is as published in the same paper in 1893 ~~

An exchange prints this prescription for getting rid of flies: A half teaspoonful of black pepper, finely ground, mixed with double the quantity of brown sugar, the compound to be moistened with cream. The flies will generally eat greedily of the mixture, if placed where they can easily reach it, but it will be their last meal, for the least bit of it to a fly is rank poison. If watched, they will often be seen to drop dead within a few feet of the plate which they have just left, and some of the heartiest eaters do not live to leave the plate.

1890 Oddball Trivia

The editor of The Fowlerville Review would find trivia and news to print weekly in his paper. Here is a spattering of articles from 1891:

Here is a way to tell how fast you are traveling in a railway car: Every time the car passes over a rail joint, there is a distinct click. Count the number of these clicks in twenty seconds and you will have the number of miles the train is going per hour. This is a simple matter of arithmetic, as the length of the rails are uniform.

In the Albion Record~~Fred E. Watkins, while crossing a meadow in pursuit of a rabbit, found a clover blossom in full bloom on Christmas Day. The prophecy was made in 1462 that, after the first clover blossom found on Christmas Day, 62 days from then the world will come to an end. That will make the event due on Sunday, February 23.

In late winter, the Jackson Citizen says: Strange winter this. A robin was seen by a farmer five miles from Ann Arbor on the 30th day of January, and within a few days, the songster was seen in that city. Within a short time, one of its citizens says he saw in his yard a swarm of full-grown house flies, as large as a swarm of bees. That's nothing. On the 13th day of February, at high noon, a Kalamazoo man saw a whole yard full of snakes, most of them boa-constrictor size.

And then this -- A truly penitent looking fellow walked into a Beloit, Wisconsin, store the other day when the proprietor was alone and with difficulty keeping back the tears that would well up in his eyes, said: 'Four years ago I stole a pair of shoes here. It was during an 'off' sale and the shoes were marked $4. The fact has been weighing on my conscience until I have been driven to make restitution. Have me arrested if you will, but take the money,' and he plunked down a $10 bill. The merchant was overcome by this evidence of honesty, and giving the fellow $6 in change, bade him go in peace and sin no more. The penitent went, and two hours later, when the merchant went to the bank, he found that an ordinary tramp had worked a 'queer' bill on him and got good money in return. Next!

1884 Pinkerton

G.L. Adams, publisher and editor of The Fowlerville Review from 1874 until 1929, randomly inserted national news within his Local News Section. In one issue, in early July of 1884, he reported on the death of Allen Pinkerton, with, Allen Pinkerton, the noted thief-taker, died at his home in Chicago last week. The association of which he was the head, will be continued under the management of his sons. If you would like to read more about the Pinkertons, click here.