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In 1875, the following article was published in The Fowlerville Review for Mr. and Mrs. Rufus H. Fowler:

Wooden Wedding~~Saturday evening last was the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the nuptials of Mr. and Mrs. Rufus H. Fowler. About fifty invitations had been issued and at a seasonable hour, the guests began to arrive bringing with them their woodenware, etc. Among the numerous presents we mention a few of the more prominent: a handsome bedroom set from Mrs. Fowler's friends, two neat little stands, several wash tubs, pails, brooms, mop sticks, and numerous other articles, both useful and amusing, and in all amounting in value to about seventy dollars. At about nine o'clock, an excellent repast was served and after having partaken of the viands to the satisfaction of the inner man, the remainder of the evening was spent in singing and playing and a real sociable good time that will long be remembered. As the "wee small hours" drew near, the company began to withdraw leaving behind them their many well wishes for the future happiness and prosperity of Mr. and Mrs. Rufus H. Fowler.
In my research, I thought I had come across an obituary for Rufus Fowler, but it must be stuck in some folder that I just cannot put my hands on. Anyhow, reading about how someone's fifth anniversary was spent seemed a lot nicer.

Anyhow . . . while searching for this one, and knowing I didn't have an obituary for John B. Fowler (the original one that passed away in 1842), I was stopped in my tracks when I came across the following notice printed in The Fowlerville Review in 1885:

Mr. John B. Fowler, who has been the victim of consumption for the past few years, died of that disease at the residence of his father-in-law, Geo. Baker, on Wednesday night. Mr. Fowler was a young man of marked ability, and having been a resident of this village nearly all his life, was known by all and to be a young man of sterling worth and integrity, who commanded the respect and love of all. While his death has been looked for by all his friends for the past year, it was none the less hard to hear when the end of his suffering was reached.

Can we assume this was a possible direct descendant of the John B. Fowler, brother of Ralph Fowler, who had arrived in this area in 1836, but died in 1942? And of what relation would Rufus have been, years later, to the original Fowlers? If I perchance ever come across the obituary for Rufus Fowler, I will definitely post it, and maybe a few mysteries will be solved.

In the meantime, as I came across more Fowlers in my research, following are articles from The Fowlerville Review (the first from 1875, then 1880, and the last from 1885) giving glimpses of some Fowler family activities:

We are informed by Richard Fowler and several others who are at work on Mr. Aflect's new residence just south of the village that quite a sprinkling of snow fell one week ago last evening.

Word was received late on Tuesday that Geo. Fowler, of Lansing, son of R. Fowler, of this place, had lost an arm in the sash and blind factory at Lansing. The particulars have not yet been received.

Lewis Fowler, Frank Fowler, Wm. Fowler, John Caston, Wm. Caston, and Lewis Austin, were arraigned before Justice Pullen on Saturday for creating a disturbance at the closing exercises of the school at Six Corners on the 13th. It is claimed that the parties arrested have been in the habit of attending such entertainments and creating disturbance. One of the boys had been expelled from the school for unbecoming conduct and it was claimed the boys were taking revenge. Their trial was set down for Wednesday and after being out until three o'clock on Thursday morning, the jury failed to agree, standing three for and three against conviction. The case will be tried again on Thursday, April 9th.

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Well, as it turns out, I do not have an obituary for any of the Beans but I am wondering if this large family headstone would be for the Bean family that was quite prominent in the 1880s and into the 1890s, and the small marker was for the "James Bean" that operated various business ventures in Fowlerville during this time.In the book I put together, The Fowlerville Chronicles, the first time his name shows up is in an 1877 business directory -- "Bean, James, livery stable." I added a footnote to his name with additional information I found in a newspaper article in The Fowlerville Review, After eight years of farming in Marion Township, James Bean sold out and moved to Fowlerville. He operated a livery business and was proprietor of the Commercial Hotel, as well as being involved in the mercantile business. He constructed two buildings south of the Commercial Hotel, one being the Bean Opera House at one time.

The Commercial Hotel (known previously as the Reason House as well as "Independence Hall" before the wooden structure burned in 1878), was a brick structure finished in 1880 at the southwest corner at the main four corners. The building was one-half floor down and two-and-one-half stories up.

In later years, James Bean was noted as operating a general store from 1879 to 1883, then in 1885 the business directory shows "Bean, James & Son (James and Ira), livery, general store and stave mill." Another footnote proved the information Mr. Bean had closed the mercantile business earlier in the year. In 1889, the directory indicates "Bean, James, propr Commercial Hotel and livery and general store." By 1894, he was also selling clothing.

The term "block" was usually attached to the owner's name of a building, and, in this case, the "Bean Block" was used extensively when articles were found regarding Mr. Bean's various enterprises in the buildings at the southwest quadrant.

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The Cook family was very prominent in the early days of Fowlerville. Jared Cook had one of the first hardware stores in the downtown area. Following is the obituary published in The Fowlerville Review for Fred Jared Cook (b. 6.11.1868-d. 4.4.1929), son of Jared L. and Sarah M. Cook.

Fred Jared Cook Died at Howell~~Fred J. Cook died at Howell Thursday afternoon, aged 61 years, after a lingering illness.

He was born at Byron June 11, 1868, and when a boy came with his parents to Fowlerville where his father engaged in the hardware business with Hugh Loughlin under the firm name of Cook & Loughlin. After graduating here he took a business course at the Detroit Commercial College and accepted a position with Bement & Sons at Lansing as a traveling salesman, in which he achieved great success.

Later the firm dissolved partnership and Mr. Cook engaged in the hardware business alone for sever years and later Fred J. Cook purchased the stock and after a time purchased the lumber yard, adding it to the hardware business, and for several years was one of the best known merchants in Livingston County, and being a large advertiser he drew customers from a circle of many miles and was successful in piling up what at that time was considered a fortune.

The allurements of the west with its big opportunities allured him and he closed out his business here and went to Washington.

He was married to Miss Jennie Miller of Howell, February 19, 1890, and as the result of this union, two children; Miller and Margaret were born. Miller is now a resident of Aberdeen, Washington,and Margaret Way, who died at the home of her parents at Howell a few weeks since.

After a few years, he returned from the west and again opened a hardware store here, but later moved the stock to Flint, where he remained for a time and later closed it out.

He was of a pleasant, genial disposition and had a remarkable faculty of making friends with all with whom he came in contact. He was interested in Fowlerville and gave generously to all enterprises.

He leaves a wife, one son, Miller, of Aberdeen, also one sister, Mrs. W.T. Swinburn, who has spent much of her time at Paris, France, but was present at the funeral.

There was a bit more information of internment in Greenwood, but the above was of the most interest. A few more anecdotal stories can be found in The Fowlerville Chronicles about Mr. Cook, but then I recently came across another tidbit of news in the local section of The Fowlerville Review, 1891, about Fred worth sharing -- Fred Cook shot a ball through the fleshy part of his hand while fooling with a loaded revolver on Sunday.

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There are some very, very old, and sometimes odd headstones standing in Greenwood Cemetery. I came across this one . . .. . . and then took a close-up of the base. The names appear to be for A.D. & E. Benjamin. There have been a number of Benjamins in Fowlerville through the years. I could not find an obituary for Albert D. Benjamin (b. 1842-d. 1876) as shown below nor for Agnes E. Benjamin, but I did come across one years later, in 1922, for an Arthur E. Benjamin. Quite possibly they were related, so that's the Benjamin I'm going with for today's obituary. The following notice was published in The Fowlerville Review.

Business Man Dies Suddenly~~This village received a sudden and severe shock Sunday night when word went out that Arthur E. Benjamin had suddenly passed away at Hotel Lockwood after an illness of a little over 36 hours. He attended the basketball game Friday night and a short time after retiring complained of being cold, growing gradually worse. Dr. Cunningham was called and everything was done that medical skill could suggest, but it was a case of double pneumonia and his death soon followed.

He was born in the township of Conway, the eldest son of Charles W. and Mary Benjamin, September 15, 1872, and resided there until the spring of 1883, when he came with his parents to Fowlerville, where he resided the balance of his life with the exception of a short period spent at Linden.

When he left school, he learned the art of printing in the Review office and later went to Linden where he worked in the office of the Record with W.H. Peek, after which he returned to Fowlerville and officiated in the stores and where he married Bertha Crawford January 29, 1902, and later engaged in the restaurant and grocery business with success until he finally sold the business and rented the hotel where he died.

He was the father of three children; two daughters, Iva and Caroline, and one son, Arthur J., who with his wife, mother and brother, Ernest D., survive to mourn his departure.

He was a member of the Masonic lodge and the funeral services will be held at the home this afternoon at two o'clock under Masonic auspices, the Rev. W.C. Roof, assisted by the Rev. G.L. Adams, officiating, and the remains interred in Greenwood cemetery.

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Even though I have mentioned that obituaries would go along with all of the headstones during this month of October, I am going to forego posting Ralph and Mary's obituaries. The Fowlerville Chronicles (which you can purchase through this website or by giving me a call) has their obituaries, in their entirety, under the year 1887. Ralph passed away at the age of 79 years after a few months of "lingering illness." His second wife, Mary, passed away five days later at the age of 77 years, apparently of typhoid fever. Interestingly enough, though, the obituary for Ralph reported,

His domestic relations were very pleasant, six children being born to him by his first wife who died early in 1846. December 10, 1846, he married Mary Fowler, who still survives him, although at present lying very ill, brought on in a measure, no doubt, by the care and anxiety attending the illness of her late husband.

These small headstones stand next to the large headstone, which can be seen under October 1st squint shots.

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The entire month of October will be dedicated to some of the pioneers that helped to build Fowlerville. Yesterday, we started off with squint shots of the tall headstone marking the four Fowlers that first arrived in this area.

Martha Smith Fowler, b. 1808-d. 1846, was Ralph Fowler's first wife. According to Mike Grimm's website, Fowlerville History, Martha was 23-years old when she married Ralph. They had six children -- George, Lucy (both of whom were born in New York), Charles, Joanna, Walter B. (died in infancy), and Walter. Martha passed away while Walter was still an infant. John B. Fowler, b. 1811-d. 1842, was two years older than Ralph. The two of them made the initial trek to the Michigan Territory to check out the possibility of relocating from New York. John passed away a short six years later.

When Ralph was 69-years old, he composed The Pioneer Sketch, which was published in its entirety in The Fowlerville Review. He spoke of the early years. In one paragraph --

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On the first of May, 1837, Mr. John B. Fowler and family, Ruel Randall and wife, and John A. Tanner, then a boy, arrived in town, having came through Canada with ox teams. The first Sunday morn after the arrival of John B. Fowler, we strolled through the woods and came to a clear spot of about an acre where there was a large oak tree; we sat down under the tree and talked of our mother who had been a Methodist all her days. 'Right here,' my brother says, 'if we live long enough, we will have a Methodist church.' When the plat was surveyed, the stump of the tree still stood, which was after the lapse of 15 years, and remembering the conversation of my brother and myself, I marked the lots for a Methodist church and in about twenty years the church was built on that site.

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Both John and Martha would have been buried in the original cemetery, located in the 700 block on the north side of East Grand River. The Greenwood Cemetery was created in 1884 and those buried in the original cemetery were removed over a period of five to ten years to Greenwood. Tomorrow's squint shots will look a bit closer at Mary and Ralph Fowler.

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For the entire month of October, the squint shots will be of headstone pictures taken in Greenwood Cemetery. Also, as I did research for The Fowlerville Chronicles, I kept track of many of the obituaries of the early residents. The editor and publisher of The Fowlerville Review, G.L. Adams, from 1874-1929, would offer up detailed paragraphs of the deceased life and death, providing a wealth of information about the town and its people.

Today's shots are two sides of the monument for brothers John and Ralph Fowler and their wives, Mary and Martha. Over the next four days, each individual smaller headstone will be shown with information on each person; in particular Ralph and Mary (John's second wife) as they passed away during the time Mr. Adams had The Review. John (Ralph's brother) and Martha (Ralph's first wife) both passed away a few short years after arriving in this area. This large headstone is located just inside and to the right as you enter the north entrance to the cemetery, in the older section.