1918 Hungry for Music

By now J.C. Ellsworth, the local banker for Fowlerville, had owned an Estey organ for a year.  From the sounds of the letter below -- received from a local reader who now owns parts of the organ -- Mr. Ellsworth had worked his way through all the music he had and needed something new: 

And, according to my reader that sent these copies, it would appear Mr. Ellsworth wrote the company on an average of twice weekly requesting more rolls of music for his pipe organ.  Wouldn't it be wonderful to know exactly what music he had and what more he received?

Tomorrow, more correspondence and information on J.C. Ellsworth and his Estey organ.

On a side note, it is interesting to look at this letterhead to see what community leaders were part of the bank.  One name jumps out at me -- Lewis H. Cooper.  He was was an earlier druggist following in the steps of his father.

1917 J.C. Ellsworth Organ Purchase

If you check back to yesterday's post, you will see a letter from J.C. Ellsworth inquiring as to the possibility of purchasing an organ for the music room in his house, and for his own pleasure.

 

Following is a copy of the purchase order, received from one of my readers (ultimately the current owner of parts of the organ -- he bought the console, in particular):

The organ cost $9,500 with a credit by XY Orchestrelle, purchased June 16, 1917.

1915 Letter from J.C. Ellsworth

Over the next week (or so), I am going to post letters, articles, and pictures I received from someone who recently found my blog.  This reader is located in New Hampshire and appears to be deeply involved in preserving their history.

 

His connection to Fowlerville?

 

Years ago, he purchased an organ that had originally been owned by J.C. Ellsworth, one of Fowlerville's revered bankers in the early days of the village.  At the time this reader purchased the organ, it was owned by the proprietor of the Howell Domestic Pickle Company.

 

But to start this series of posts, following is the letter from J.C. Ellsworth to the Estey Organ Company, located in Brattleboro, Vermont, dated December 1, 1915:

Tomorrow, I'll show the purchase order.

1928 Salt on Street

With winter, it used to be salt followed as it is spread on the roads when they were icy.  Now, though, more often it is sand that is used, but I still associate the spreading of salt on the roads with cold, wintery conditions.

 

As I've been randomly looking at articles I've saved from thousands of digitals I took of microfilm at the Howell library, I came across the following editorial blurb published in The Fowlerville Review in the summer of 1928: 

So salt was used to try to tame the dusty roads, which of course got me thinking about current-day technology; especially since we have to drive about half a mile on a dirt road to get to our place.  Once or twice a summer, chloride is sprayed on the road by the county and it does seem to help for a while, although still not long once the rains come.  Reading the above article, I guess not much has changed.

1917 Obituary for Mrs. R.E. Bell

The following obituary, found in The Fowlerville Review in 1917, is one of those articles written with a wealth of information for anyone doing historical research:

The second paragraph of the obituary tells us where the Holt and Hart store was located because we know the Bell opera house was (and still is but is now used as storage) in the northeast block above what is now Maria's Dance Studio with the north half of the old opera house above Olden Days. 

 

Holt and Hart dealt in groceries and dry goods but they were also responsible for a huge collection of photographs taken in the early 1900s.  They took pictures of the downtown area, many homes, and especially damage done by the 1909 "cyclone" that ripped through the south part of town by the railroad tracks.

 

If you look back a few days ago on this website, there are also a couple of articles of a burglary that took place in their store.

1914 Ladies Injured

As I randomly select articles from the local newspaper (while waiting for a package to arrive with what I believe to be some very interesting information), I came across this 1914 article:

Both Ladies Were Injured~~On Thursday afternoon, of last week, as Samuel Logan and wife and Mrs. Fred Palmerton were driving home from this village, when near the Potts farm, Mr. Logan was driving with a loose line and discovered the bit had broken in the center and was hanging out of the horse's mouth.  He hastily slipped out of the cutter and attempted to get the horse by the head, but the attempt was unsuccessful and, as the horse started to run, he called to the ladies to jump.  Both did so and Mrs. Logan injured her foot quite painfully and Mrs. Palmerton quite seriously injured her knee, although fortunately no bones were broken.  The horse gradually slowed down his pace and was caught by Mr. Logan's son near home and neither horse or cutter were injured.

As the Palmerton name goes way back in this village's history, I am wondering what this Mrs. Fred Palmerton's relationship was to Frank and Joanna Palmerton -- the merchants involved in building (and rebuilding) the Palmerton block.

If anyone can add a comment with additional information or e-mail me and I will do an update, that would be great.  I'm wondering if this is the same Mrs. Fred Palmerton that would eventually own and run the Standard station in the 1930s.

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?