THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Bulletin of the Sebewa Center Association
(Sebewa Township, Ionia County, Michigan);
AUGUST 2003, Volume 39, Number 1. Submitted with written permission of Editor, Grayden D. SLOWINS:


SURNAMES: DOTY, CROSS, BRIGHTON, MUMAW, HANSBARGER, SHUPP, COOK, AUGST, DRAGHI, WINSLEY, ROCKEFELLOW, HOLLAND, SHETTERLY, GIERMAN, LILLIE, JARCHOW, MEYERS, KLAGER, OATLEY, RALSTON, DOWNING

RECENT DEATHS:

DOUGLAS DOTY, 67, husband of Marian DOTY, father of daughters Dody & Sharon and son Bill, brother of Maureen CROSS, Shirley GRIGHTON and Bruce DOTY, son of Merle & Dorothy MUMAW Doty. He once ran the North Inn restaurant in Lake Odessa, which has been in the family since his grandmother Ada (Becky) MUMAW HANSBARGER SHUPP.

ROSE M. COOK AUGST DRAGHI, 86, widow of Gerald AUSGST & Nathan DRAGHI, mother of Geraldine WINSLEY, Ernest & Vaughn AUGST and Bonnie ROCKEFELLOW, sister of the late Ilene HOLLAND, Gaylord, George and Merlin COOK, daughter of Gladys SHETTERLY & Clifton COOK, son of Emily & Charles P. COOK, son of Ursula & Pierce G. COOK, who settled in Sebewa Township on MUSGROVE Hwy. in the Spring of 1853.

PAULINE E. GIERMAN LILLIE, 88, widow of Robert C. LILLIE, sister of Maurice GIERMAN and the late Charles & Robert Wilfred GIERMAN and Christine JARCHOW, daughter of Nellie E. MEYERS & Robert E. GIERMAN, son of Christina KLAGER & Charles GIERMAN, son of Frederick (Fritz) GIERMAN, who settled in Sebewa Township on BIPPLEY Road about 1875.

FARMERS’ MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, of Ionia County, Annual List of Members, 1874, is especially interesting because Charles RALSTON of Sebewa Township was later the long-time Secretary/Manager, followed by Homer DOWNING, also of Sebewa, who was in charge when they merged with another company, possibly Hastings Mutual Insurance Company.

OATLEY FAMILY UPDATE: The following letter is a reply to two recent inquiries about the OATLEY families of Sebewa Township, Ionia County & GRESHAM, Chester Township, Eaton County:

To: Sandra McCARRICK – I suspect you are right about Chester & Mary OATLEY in our West Sebewa Cemetery. It never occurred to me that the Mary OATLEY buried with Chester II would be his father Simeon’s second wife.

Yes, Sandra SLOWINS MILLER is my sister. She & her husband Jim are retired at HARDY Dam, near White Cloud, MI. My wife Ann’s Aunt Gerry SMITH LAKIN HATCH was probably your relative also, and her daughter Sheila was in your class.

Wilbur GIERMAN, 11616 S. SHILTON Road, Portland, MI 48875, is the son of Mae OATLEY GIERMAN, but he doesn’t have much information beyond what was printed in April 1970 and February 1999. I do have the same 1880 census information from the Internet that you have.

A man named Clark TINNEY…..Tucson, AZ, writes: “My grandmother, Emmaline WHEELER FRAZEE’s death record of October 7, 1916, shows her father as M. or Mr. WHEELER and her mother as Pheba OATLEY, who was born in Ohio. Emmaline was born either 1857 or 1859, supposedly at Eaton Rapids, MI. She was married to James FRAZEE, July 1882, at Portland, and is buried in North Eagle Cemetery. He is trying to find out more about her parents living in and around Ionia County. He is also looking for Ionia County Poor Farm records listing people there around 1870.

This sounds like your branch of the OATLEY family and you are probably already in contact with Clark TINNEY, but if not it’s worth a try. Wilbur GIERMAN seems to think Simeon’s father may have been Edward, but he has no record of Pheba. Perhaps she was Simeon’s brother John/s daughter. Hope this helps a little bit –

Sincerely, Grayden D. Slowins, Editor of THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR”

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SEBEWA CENTER ASSOCIATION was last held on May 29, 2000. At that time the membership voted to cease collecting dues and move toward dissolving the organization. The school building was leased to Sebewa Township at $1 per year for a period of five years, July 1, 2000, to June 30, 2005, for continued use as voting precinct. This was done with the idea that the Association treasury would be depleted by that time and the property could be deeded over to the township. Sebewa Township has paid the liability & property insurance, utilities, janitor and lawn care. But the Association is responsible for repairs to the building, well, pump, furnace and premises. The well & pump now need replacing. This will probably finish off the treasury balance, even though some people have continued to make voluntary contributions. The church & township will pay the rest of the well costs, because they will share in its use.

Since the Sebewa Center Association is in the process of dissolving over the next year or two, we soon will no longer be able to accept monetary contributions as a non-profit organization. This editor will probably continue a newsletter in some form for family and friends after the organization ends, but it will be done for free, so as not to involve Michigan tax laws.

OUR FIRST TRIP TO FLORIDA by Grayden Slowins:

Thursday, March 13, 2003 – 68 degrees in the morning & sunny. Along the roadside we identified the flowers & leaves of Blue-Eyed grass. Resurrection fern grows three to six inches tall on tree limbs and is spread by spores. Ann practiced her organ music on the keyboard, while I walked over to visit with John from Lake City, then we both walked.

Wednesday, March 19, 71 degrees & sunny, becoming partly cloudy………We visited with Marie STEFFENS, owner of the park, at the ice cream social. She & her husband, son & grandson & wives had a dairy farm at Rockford, IL. After his stroke, she & the children sold the farm and bought this park, only about six years old. Her husband died within the year. Son John, his wife Debbie, grandson Matt, his wife & two little great-granddaughters are involved in the day-to-day operation……

All thru the South we saw John Deere Lawn & Garden tractors being sold at hardware stores, discount outlets, and various other chains or franchises. Probably it is happening in the North too, and we have to wonder who will be servicing these machines, when authorized dealers aren’t making the sale. Maybe the company perceives a need to compete with Sears Crafsman and others that sell for less, but what will service cost and where will it be available?

Marie Steffens stopped in today to visit and see the aerial photo of our farm on our wall, similar to those on her walls……visited with a man from Middlebury, VT, who retired from the Boston-Maine Railroad. Said Middlebury is a college town – Middlebury College – an expensive private college – plus home of the late Robert FROST and Bob NEWHART’S Bed & Breakfast……a couple from Rockford, MI. She grew up in Ithaca, he in Ionia. Their name is Roberts, but claim no relation to any Roberts currently in Ionia, Lake Odessa, Portland or Sebewa………

Sunday, March 23………visited with John Steffens, park owner, about his John Deere 720 tractor. He says they have a Gas & Steam Antique Tractor Show at Ft. Meade the last week in February each year. He loaned us a video tape of it to watch tonight. Allis-Chalmers was the featured make this year and McCormack will be next year, but all kinds take part. A man in the park from Ontario has Allis-Chalmers tractors and a farm license plate on his pickup….

Monday, March 24, 51 degrees at daylight. Breakfast TV had an interview with Melissa RATHBUN COLEMAN of Texas, whose great-uncle Frank RATHBUN is in our East Sebewa Cemetery. During the Gulf War I in 1991, she was the first woman, and one of only two women, to be taken POW. The truck she was driving was disabled when she was shot in the arm and driveshaft. The lead driver had wandered into enemy territory and Melissa could not believe it when her interrogators told her she was at fault. Released after 30 days, her medical attention had not been the best, but otherwise she was not abused. Psychological effects lasted longer, but she says now okay.

We battened the hatches, took in the electric cord & wheel pads, headed toward Michigan. Drove northwest on Florida-100 to Lake City, then on I-75 north into Georgia. With next year’s reservation in place and several people & places already in mind to visit, we leave Florida with pleasant memories.

Tuesday, March 25, 54 degrees in morning……Saw yellow daffodils and red & yellow tulips planted in rows on the highway roadside along with wildflowers. Also red-violet blossoms on shrubs, not really fruit trees………Drove thru the mountains in North Georgia & Tennessee, with rock outcrop ridges like fins, then began to see some green hillside pastures with beef & dairy cattle & nice homesteads.

Thursday, March 27, woke (in Auburn, IN, KOA) to robins singing, 40 degrees, nice flock of sheep north of town, home 2 hours, unloaded 60s, shirtsleeves……

Our Florida trip covered 1609 miles from Sebewa Township, MI, to Trilby, FL, then 494 miles touring in FL, and 1273 miles home.

THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Bulletin of the Sebewa Center Association
(Sebewa Township, Ionia County, Michigan);
OCTOBER 2003, Volume 39, Number 2. Submitted with written permission of Editor, Grayden D. SLOWINS:


SURNAMES: SEARS, TIPTON, BARTUS, ROSS, KENYON, BISHOP, FULLER, SCHNABEL-SNOBBLE, SLATER, SMITH, ECKHARDT, VOELKER, SCHNEIDER, ADGATE, FENDER, SLOWINSKI, MONTGOMERY, GIBBS, AMES, HOWLAND, SANDBORN, BURHANS, WASHBURN, NORTRUP, EVANS, ARNESEN, COON, THORPE, MAPES, KREBS, REGAN

RECENT DEATHS:

JOHNANNA BARTUS SEARS, 78, wife of Wallace SEARS, mother of John & Loren SEARS and the late Raymond SEARS & Charlene SEARS PATTERSON, sister of Edith COSTIE and the late Larry HANSELMAN, daughter of John & Minnie TIPTON BARTUS. Johnanna was a member of Portland Seventh Day Adventist Church, a graduate of Cedar Lake Adventist Academy, and was married to Wallace for 60 years.

VERA LUCIELLE KENYON ROSS, 85, widow of Frank ROSS, mother of Pamela K. ROSS, sister of Dorothy SILKY, Gwendolyn FENTON, and the late Virginia TERRILL and Paul BISHOP, daughter of Floyd A. & Allena May KENYON BISHOP. Born in Sebewa, she grew up in Portland & Lansing, graduated from Portland High School & St. Lawrence School of Nursing. She enjoyed traveling & genealogy and was a long-time member of Sebewa Center Association. Allena May KENYON was daughter of Mary Allena FULLER & Henry Nathan KENYON, who emigrated from Holland to Sebewa.

SCHNABEL-SNOBBLE FAMILY UPDATE: In the February issue Louis Horace SNOBBLE’S birthplace was given in two different places as 1858, and his age at death in 1962 as 1904. This was a double typographical error, as his correct birthdate is 1868 and age at death is 94.

SLATER FAMILY UPDATE: Lewis SLATER has a sister, Marilyn Louise BURDINIE, and a brother, Duane L. SLATER. Their father’s cousin, Forrest SLATER, celebrated his 90th birthday on August 13, 2003. His daughter-in-law, Gretchen SLATER, wrote a nice article for the Weekender about his service in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) seventy years ago this summer. They went to Camp Custer in Battle Creek for physical examinations and induction, were issued clothing & supplies, received physical conditioning. They earned $1 per day, of which $25 was sent home to their struggling families each month and the other $5 they were allowed to keep.

The Department of Labor supervised the enrollment. The camps were run by the Army and the work was supervised by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture & Interior and the State Park Service. They repaired waterways, built bridges & dams, fought fires, built park structures and planted millions of trees. Of 135 men who applied from Ionia County, 80 passed the exam and 70 actually went. The extra ten were to be called if any had to drop out. Forrest SLATER was one of the original 70 men.

BYRON GIBBS & WW II:

Veterans of World War Two are said to be passing on at the rate of 1100 per week, and it’s time we got their stories in print. One of those Vets with ties to Sebewa Township is Byron GIBBS of Mount Pleasant, MI. His great-grandparents, Robert & Mariam AMES GIBBS, settled in Sebewa Township in late 1858, and on January 11, 1859, purchased their forty acres in Section 11 on the south side of YORK Road, later owned by Jacob EVANS, then Joe EVANS, and now home of Iva & Stanley PUNG. Robert & Mariam are buried in East Sebewa Cemetery.

Mariam GIBBS was the daughter of Lorenzo G. & Adda L. AMES, who owned twenty acres in Section 11 on the south side of Clarksville Road eventually reduced to ten acres and then to 7.5 acres by the TRAVIS School and Christian Reformed Church & Parsonage. Byron got the school parcel back when it closed and sold the 8 acres only a few years ago. The AMES family is also buried in East Sebewa Cemetery.

Robert & Mariam GIBBS had eight children, several of whom married and produced many descendants in the Sebewa area. A more complete story may be seen in THE RECOLLECTOR, Vol. 35, No. 5 & 6, April & June, 2000. In summary however: Albert GIBBS, born 1840, died while serving with the 21st Michigan Infantry in 1863, and is buried in Nashville National Cemetery.

George Riley GIBBS, born 1842, married Mary Ann HOWLAND, and they had Frank, Mable, Marian, George. Sarah Jane GIBBS, born 1844, married Columbus SANDBORN, lived on KNOLL Road in Section 4 west of SHILTON Rd., and had Chester, Helen, Albert Riley, May, Arlie, Alice & Lawrence (Lon) SANDBORN and all the descendants that entails! See SANDBORNS in RECOLLECTOR Vol. 35, No. 1, August, 1999. Many of these SANDBORNS are buried in East Sebewa Cemetery.

Eliza Ann GIBBS, born 1846, married Fred BURHANS and lived on the west forty acres of what was later the George THORPE/Louis BOWER farm on the north side of Clarksville Road in Section 2. Eliza & Fred had Mentie, George, Nellie & Levi BURHANS. Norman GIBBS, born 1848, died 1909, married Mary E. WASHBURN, lived on KNOLL NORTHRUP, Norman E. GIBBS, Anna GIBBS EVANS, Nellie GIBBS ARNESEN, and Thomas GIBBS. Both sons lived on KNOLL Road and the daughters nearby. All of Norman’s family is buried in East Sebewa Cemetery. The EVANS descendants may be seen in RECOLLECTOR Vol. 24, No. 1-2-3, August, October, December 1988 & No. 5, April 1989.

Robert H. GIBBS was born & died in 1853 in Seneca County Ohio, before the family came to Michigan. Mary Alice GIBBS, born 1854, married Simeon COON, lived in Sebewa, Michigan & possibly Omaha, Nebraska, had sons Albert & Orren COON.

Byron H. GIBBS, born 1850, died 1908, married Nellie MAPES, owned & farmed the east forty acres of what later became the THORPE/BOWER farm on north side of Clarksville Road, Section 2, as well as what remained of his grandparents Ames’ farm on the south side. Their children were (Albert) Bruce GIBBS & Fannie GIBBS. Fannie married George THORPE and they acquired first the west forty from her Aunt Eliza BURHANS and then the east forty after Nellie’s death in 1930.

Nellie was the daughter of Henry & Adelia MAPES, who had twenty-one acres on the south side of KNOLL Road in Section 3. Henry had a blacksmith shop there and was a Civil War Veteran. Byron & Nellie, Henry & Adelia are buried together in East Sebewa Cemetery, under the big tree by the road, near Polly BAKER, the oldest inhabitant of the cemetery and shirt-tail related to the GIBBS family thru the NORTHRUPS. Henry MAPES got his government marker only about ten years ago, thanks to the efforts of young Byron.

A. Bruce GIBBS attended Portland High School in segments, while teaching HALLADAY school in 1897-1898 and again in 1899-1900, and Sebewa High School in 1900-1901 & 1901-1902. He also attended Ferris Institute and Ypsilanti Teachers’ College in between teaching rural schools in northern Michigan and Ohio. In 1912 he began working at Sunfield Bank and in 1913 moved to Clare County Savings Bank in Clare, MI, as bookkeeper. There he met and married Jessie Estella KREBS, who was working in Clare as a milliner, but grew up in Chester Township, Eaton County, and graduated from Charlotte High School. Children of Bruce & Jessie KREBS GIBBS were Byron GIBBS, born December 7, 1916, and Estella Jane GIBBS, born & died on May 7, 1921.

Byron GIBBS attended grade school and high school in Clare. The family was extensive gardeners and always enjoyed taking a summer vacation at harvest time to help Uncle George & Aunt Fannie THORPE on the farm. This reminds us of another MAPES, named Harry, who was an undertaker in Sunfield and enjoyed nothing more than returning to the farms of Roy PUMFREY, Gerrit SMITH, Glenn OLRY and others, to tend bagger on the threshing machine and later the combine. After high school Byron GIBBS went to Michigan Technological University at Houghton to obtain an engineering degree.

Byron GIBBS married Gertrude Bridget REGAN, born July 22, 1914, died October 8, 1980, a beautician with her own shop. They had one daughter, Louise GIBBS McCRACKEN of Mt. Pleasant, born January 7, 1947. Byron’s second wife was Ruth CARLSON GIBBS, born August 27, 1927, died July 10, 2000. After living many summers at a home in Manistee, Byron has moved back permanently to Mt. Pleasant, to be near his daughter. We begin printing his WW II memoirs on the next page and will need several issues to complete them. END

MY WW II EXPERIENCES & OBSERVATIONS by Byron GIBBS:

April 17, 1941 – December 7, 1941 – In the spring of 1941, most things were getting back to normal. The effects of the great depression which lasted from 1929 to mid 1940 were now disappearing. Jobs were available and there was the feeling good times were back.

There was trouble in other parts of the world. The German army had over run Eastern Europe in 1940 and the Japanese had invaded Manchuria and China. Their military strength was growing far beyond that needed to defend their homeland.

At this time the United States had a standing army of only 500,000. This was much too small to effectively defend this country. Our President realizes this was an alarming situation and Congress passed the first peace-time draft which became effective Sept. 16, 1940 to train for one year young men of military age. On October 15, 1940, the National Guard was mobilized for one year of Federal Service to train the men inducted for military training.

On April 17, 1941, I became one of those inducted for one year of the military training. I had registered in Detroit with the draft board #19 and been given the draft number 769. I received a notice to report on April 17, 1941 to the US Army Induction Station at 1040 West Fort Street, Detroit. I drove my 1940 Ford Deluxe maroon two door sedan and parked it on the street by the Induction Station not realizing I would go into the Army immediately and would not see my car again for many months.At the Induction Station, there were about 350 of us processed that day. I was given a serial number 36111271 and told we were now in the Army. We went immediately, by train, to Camp Grant Illinois Reception Center near Rockford arriving there the next morning April 18, 1941 at 6:00 A.M.

As soon as I could get to a pay phone I called Keith Detwiler who worked with me as second shift electricians at the American Metal Products CO. I asked Keith if he would get the spare keys off the dresser where we stayed and pick up the car and later drive it to mother’s in Clare.

At Camp Grant we were issued a wool shirt and pants and some other clothing. We were given the standard intelligence test. The food there was good I had noticed in a letter home. The stay at the Camp Grant Reception Center was not long.

We were loaded on a train Monday, April 21, 1941 and arrived at Camp Livingston, Louisiana the night of April 22, 1941.

About eight thousand selectees from Michigan and Wisconsin were assigned to the 32nd Division at Camp Livingston in April. The 32nd division was a Michigan and Wisconsin National Guard division that had been mobilized October 15, 1940 for one year of service. First they were at Camp Beauregard, Louisiana then to Camp Livingston.

A number of us were assigned to Co. M, 126th Infantry Regiment for a couple of days then to Co. C which was a National Guard Company from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Most of the men that joined Company C at the time I did came from Detroit, Saginaw, Bay City and the Grand Rapids area.

Company C area had squad tents with wooden floors and wooden sides up about three feet. There was a gas heater in each tent. There were five or six to a tent each having a steel cot with mattress, mattress cover, two wool blankets, white sheets, pillow and pillow case. The walkways to the tents were white oyster shells and the area was very neat. There were just two permanent buildings in the company area. There was a new white painted mess hall and the latrine.

We were issued a steel foot locker, barracks bag and some additional wool clothing. My civilian clothing was sent home. The first from Camp Grant and the reminder from Camp Livingston, as we were told, we would have no need for civilian clothes.

In the mess hall, there were long picnic tables. The dishes and silverware had not all been unpacked yet. The dishes were heavy porcelain and the large heavy cups had no handles. This struck me as being rather odd, large heavy cups with no handles.

The first two weeks we were in quarantine and confined to the company area. We received a smallpox vaccination and a typhoid fever shot. The doctor checked us frequently during the quarantine period. I had written home that there was a government run store where we could buy tooth paste, razor blades, etc. At the time I did not know this was called a post exchange.

During the first six weeks we were taking basic training. This included close order drill, care of equipment, manual of arms, etc. During this time the pay was $21.00 per month less the $6.70 deducted for a $10,000.00 Government Life insurance policy, this left $14.30 in cash at the pay table.

We were issued WW I flat type helmets, a gas mask, and blue denim fatigue or work clothes consisting of pants, jacket, and a flat blue denim-rimmed hat. This work uniform was strictly for work and most did not fit well. During this period we were issued new M1 rifles which had to be cleaned of the cosmoline which kept the metal free of rust. It was not long before we found out the flat WW I helmets were not comfortable.

My first trip to Alexandria, LA was May 10. In my letter home I wrote that there were 10 soldiers in uniform on the street for every man, woman, and child there. I checked my weight there at 144 lbs. On a penny scale and took the bus back to camp early. The camp now had about 20,000 soldiers.

We had good cooks at our Company C mess hall. At this time I think 240 men were being fed by two cooks. They were assisted by a detail of six to help by cleaning and washing the dishes and pots and pans.

Our first Commanding Officer was 1st Lt. Bill Fitzgerald. It was not long before he was transferred and 1st Lt. Arthur Bush became Commanding Officer. 2nd Lt. George S. Read had joined the company sometime in late April. Very shortly after, I joined Company C.

Lt. Bush was thorough in his inspections and carefully checked the mess hall. This he did very often. Sometimes sampling the food before it was served. When the bugle call sounded for mess, Lt. Bush and Lt. Reed were usually the last ones in the mess line to be sure there was sufficient food and it was well prepared. Our mess hall earned the reputation of being the best around and we frequently had visiting officers from other companies.

By the end of May 1941, our basic training was now completed and the monthly pay increased to $30.00 less the $6.70 for government insurance leaving $23.30 at the pay table. Now I was able to send home money orders each month to my widowed mother. I really had very little need for any money.

We were still wearing wool uniforms and the temperature, some days, was 100 degrees. We were finally issued cotton pants but no shirts, so we had to continue wearing wool. We did shortly receive the cotton shirts and a second pair of shoes.

We now were having field problems and short maneuvers. We were finding out what it meant to have breakfast before daylight and possibly no other food that day and sleep out on the ground soaking wet. There were two seasons we were told, the rainy season and the wet season. This seemed to be quite true.

Thru June 1941 we had a number of Combat problems and short maneuver. By mid June I received the Kodak No. 1 Kodamatic Camera, tripod and exposure guide I had ordered. The lens on the camera was f4.5 – 32 with shutter speeds 200-100-50-25-10-B-T and focus adjustment from 3.5 feet to infinity. This Kodak Vigilant S – 20 took excellent pictures with 620 black and white Vericome film.

On the weekend of July 4 (Thurs. 3rd – Sun. 6th) a percentage of the company was allowed to sign up for a trip to New Orleans Recreation Area at Lake Pontchartrain. We were transported there by army trucks. I took pictures of Tulane University, Sugar Bowl, Hugey Long’s home and the old French Quarter, St. Louis Cathedral on Jackson Square and the cemeteries. The French Quarter streets were busy at all hours of the day and night. Some bars including the Old Absinthe House on Bourbon Street were open 24 hours a day and there were street vendors late at night with their push carts selling hot tamales.

During the day I rode the street cars the full 14 mile trip for seven cents to get a good view of the city. The city of New Orleans is unique in that it is 40 feet below sea level. Here I found out auto license plates in Louisiana cost $2.00 and no driver’s license was required.

After we returned to Camp Livingston, we got back to having field problems. One time we returned to camp after a heavy rain and found some portions of the company area flooded and some tents pushed out of line in a foot of water. The tent I was in was higher and did not get water in it.

My turn for KP came up July 13th, 14th, 15th with four others. We were up at 2:30 a.m. and put in a 17-hour day. At this time we had the dishes of 170 soldiers to wash plus the pots and pans and clean up in the dining area and kitchen.

We were then firing on a range a couple of days later and I qualified as a marksman. While on the firing range, our cooks brought out the noon meal. There we ate from our mess kits. I believe Lt. Arthur Bush had us rinse the mess kits and cup in boiling water before eating. Lt. Arthur Bush and Lt. George Reed were the last two in the mess line to be sure there was enough for everyone. After eating we washed our mess kits in a large garbage can of hot soapy water and rinse them in another can of clean boiling water. The cans were kept hot by immersion gasoline heaters.

We now frequently had alerts at Camp Livingston. This meant preparing our pack for a 10-day trip and taking our foot lockers, bunks, mattresses and all other things to the mess hall for storage as if we were leaving for good. Sometimes we would just go on a short march and come back and get everything back in our tents.

By July 10 we had mosquito bars over our bunks and slept inside this netting at night. We always had our rifles handy. At night they were slung from the edge of the cot within easy reach. Lt. Bush would say he wanted us to feel the rifle was a part of us and wanted us to become so familiar with it we did not feel right without having it in our hands or within reach.

Some soldiers had some rather odd slang. Jim Downey who had been a bellhop at the Book Cadillac would sometimes say he was “going to take a Duffy”. This seemed to mean he was going to go where he could not be found and take it easy.

With all the rain, I knew it was going to be necessary to keep my camera dry somehow. Many times we got soaked to the skin. I had mother make a rubber sack the camera could slip in easily and it was twice as long as the camera so it could be folded over to give a waterproof seal. This then slid easily in the leather case and I made a sack like canvas cover to go outside the leather case so it would look like military equipment. Spare film went in another rubber sack with envelopes, stamps, and stationery.

It was now getting so the alerts were more frequent and bunks and everything would go into the mess hall to be later removed and put back in our tents.

On Monday, August 11, 1941, we left for large scale Louisiana Maneuvers which were large scale army Maneuvers. We carried everything in our pack we would need for ten days or so. Some extra clothing went in a barracks bag in a baggage truck with some company field equipment. At first we were near Lake Charles. Sometimes we were friendly forces during the war games and wore blue arm bands. Other times we were enemy forces wearing a red arm band. During this time our mailing address remained unchanged except that APO#32 was added.

There was a persistent rumor that the length of military service was going to increase by eighteen months. The National Guard was looking forward to completing their one year of service in a couple of months and going home. The rumor was not well received by them, but so far it was just a rumor.

On August 15, 1941, we were assembled with the rest of the division to hear the Commanding General speak. His appearance was greeted by some “boos”. His speech to the assembled soldiers made it official that there was an 18-month extension of service. There was nothing but silence after the announcement. Everyone was silent, reflecting the change would make in their lives. Now the service was to be two and one half years instead of one.

I think there was some disciplinary action given the entire division because of the initial greeting given to the General on his appearance, but I do not remember what it was.

In the days and week s following the official announcement of the 18-month increase, we would hear some National Guard soldier in the distance shout “Ohio” (standing for ‘over the hill in October).

The maneuvers continued with one unit sometimes part of an attacking force and at other times on the defensive. We could see how short units were of heavy weapons. Fence posts were made into simulated water-cooled machine guns. Mortars were made from a small diameter galvanized sheet metal pipe painted black with a wooden base to make up for those weapons the units did not have. Tank units were also without sufficient tanks and we saw sometimes a jeep with a sign on the front saying it was a tank.

To add realism to an attack, we were sometimes issued a few rounds of blank ammunition with the caution not to fire at some attacker at close range.

During maneuvers we were fed by our own cooks. If we were in reserve, we had the kitchen set up with field ranges and we would be camped with our pup tents neatly lined up in the company area. There we would sleep at night in the tents. Our first duties in setting up would be to hand dig the trenches for the latrines and then a garbage pit 6’ x 6’ x 6’ near the kitchen.

Our drinking water supply to fill our canteens always came from the large rubberized Lister Bag we called the “company cow” which must have held 25 gallons or so of water. This was hung from a tripod of poles or from a tree branch. All of the meals during maneuvers were eaten from our mess kits and we sat on the ground.

If we were in an attacking force and on the move, our kitchen truck might locate us for breakfast before daylight. We would be given a sandwich wrapped in wax paper and an apple or orange for lunch. The sandwich usually was two slices of bread with some apple butter or jam that would not spoil during a hot day carried in the pack. Jam did not work too well in a sandwich as ants could always seem to somehow get at the sandwich. A jam and live ant sandwich is hard to eat unless you are pretty hungry.Our next meal after breakfast, served from our kitchen truck, would be a late after-dark supper unless the mess personnel got captured. In this case there was nothing till the following day. I soon learned to carry something to eat when I could buy it.
(To be continued)

IONIA COUNTY OFFICIALS 1892-1894, WITH FRONT PAGE PHOTO:
Information provided by Ionia County Probate Judge Geer SMITH in 1973, and Woodland Township Supervisor/Commissioner Victor ECKHARDT in 1993:

Judge Geer SMITH was born about 1896 and served with some of these men in their later years. He thinks it is the picture which typically was taken when a new crop of supervisors had their organizational meeting. He says the only term of office in which all these county officials would have been in office at the same time was in 1892-1894.

Victor ECKHARDT was born in 1905. His mother was Bertha VOELKER, whose family had a barbershop and later an insurance agency in Ionia. His wife was Eulah SCHNEIDER, whose father was George Schneider, a farmer on TUPPER Lake Road and Odessa Township Supervisor, shown in the photo in fourth row, left end, with his back against the pillar.

Chester ADGATE, second row, left end, was Berlin Township Supervisor and owner of the pioneer Alonzo SESSIONS farm, which became the Ionia County Infirmary Farm and is now part of Ionia State Park.

Adam FENDER, Civil War G.A.R. Veteran, second row, right end, with light coat & droopy moustache, was a farmer on South State Road and Sebewa Township Supervisor, in 1897-1917 by the family’s record.

Michael SLOWINSKI & Christopher SLOWINSKI, front row, first & second from left end, were farmers on HARWOOD Road in Berlin Township and helped build the courthouse in 1883-1886. Chris was a stonecutter, stone mason and Mike was a carpenter/joiner. Third from left is unknown, probably a supervisor. Fourth is Ed MURPHY, County School Commissioner, now called Superintendent. Fifth is Frank D. M. DAVIS, Circuit Judge. Sixth is Royal A. HAWLEY, Prosecutor and later Judge.

Seventh is Alexander T. MONTGOMERY, Sheriff, who also ran a livery stable in his building where the Commission on Aging is now located. His son George was a classmate of Geer SMITH in Ionia and at the University of Michigan. George became a longtime Democrat State Representative from Detroit and his funeral was held at Ionia First Methodist Church after 1973, with burial in Highland Park Cemetery. Geer says Alex was an old man by the time his three children were ready for college, so his younger wife moved to Ann Arbor to provide them a home. Alex stayed in Ionia and sat in his rocker by the window, watching the world go by. Eighth man is unknown, probably another supervisor.

The County Clerk, Treasurer, Judge of Probate, and Register of Deeds are probably also in the photo, although Judge SMITH could not pick them out. Probably they are some of those with crisp derby hats. The remaining seventeen unidentified men would bring the County Board of Supervisors to twenty from the sixteen townships and Ionia’s four wards. Portland was still a village and had no wards nor supervisors. Belding was apparently not quite to city-hood yet either, according to the old Plat Books. Some others in the photo may have worked on the building besides the SLOWINSKIS.

THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Bulletin of the Sebewa Center Association
(Sebewa Township, Ionia County, Michigan);
DECEMBER 2003, Volume 39, Number 3. Submitted with written permission of Editor, Grayden D. SLOWINS:


SURNAMES: ROBERTS, WALL, STEURY, NIETHAMER, SMITH, GIBBS, SLOWINS, ELLIS, MERRILL, SAWYER, SKINNER, BRONSON, BROWNSON, KELLER, SHAW

RECENT DEATH:

LaVerne Ora ROBERTS, 95, widower of C. Jeanette (Jean) WALL ROBERTS, father of daughters Jan STEURY & the late LaVerna Jean ROBERTS, brother of the late Forrest & Roy ROBERTS, son of George & Caroline NIETHAMER ROBERTS. Verne worked on his father’s farm & gravel business opposite Donna Drive on Woodland Road, the old Edward SNOBBLE farm, managed the Gamble Store in Lake Odessa, worked at the Reo in Lansing during WW II, the Home Lumber Co. in Hastings, and then for most of his working years he built and remodeled homes & other buildings in the Barry, Eaton, Ionia County area. Since high school he also worked for WEED-WORTLEY-BAINE-PICKENS-KOOPS Funeral Home on funeral days and as ambulance driver when that was part of the service. A life long member of Woodland Zion Lutheran Church, he is buried at Lake Odessa Lakeside Cemetery.

IONIA COURTHOUSE PHOTO UPDATE: In the October issue we gave Judge Geer SMITH’S birth date as about 1896. Lois BRICKLEY DAVIS writes that Geer graduated from Ionia High School with her brother, William BRICKLEY in 1926. William died June 19, 2003, at age 94 years and eleven months, so was born in July 1908. Geer was probably born in 1907-1908-or 1909. Therefore the older public officials were probably retired when he knew them and knew their years of service.

FOLLOWING THE ANCESTRAL TRAIL FROM HEBRON, CT, TO SEBEWA TWP, MI by Grayden SLOWINS:
(With front-page photos titled “GENEALOGY TRIP EAST”: Rutherford B. HAYES House, Fremont, Ohio and Pontoosuc Lake Dam, Pittsfield, Massachusetts)

Wednesday, October 1, 2003, up at 5:00 to unseasonable 38 degrees and left home via M-50 & I-69……across the short end of Pennsylvania and New York to LeRoy, NY, near Rochester, by first night. Northern Ohio grows mostly corn & soybeans, same as central Michigan, plus some nurseries with flowers 7 vegetables. Saw just three flocks of sheep in Ohio, once an important sheep area, and one of them had only 5 or 6 sheep, including a black one. East of Cleveland we left the level farmland. Northwestern Pennsylvania added alfalfa to the corn & soybeans, but still no livestock, so they must raise the hay to ship to dairy areas. New York State along Lake Erie has vineyard after vineyard – a lot of grape juice I guess! Saw a machine for picking grapes, but not in operation. Obviously too many grapes to pick by hand into a small basket like the ads show on TV. At 4:45 we signed in at Timberline Lake RV Park, LeRoy, NY, for the night……Oct. 2…after LeRoy the crops changed from grapes back to corn, soybeans & alfalfa again……entered Massachusetts………saw a flock of twenty Dorset sheep in a lot with a big round bale. They had nice round bodies, clean white faces & feet…….

Oct. 3…drove to Putnam, CT, visited the Town Clerk. Very helpful, she especially welcomed a retired Clerk & Deputy from MI. Their Towns in the East equal our Townships and are the repository for all vital records – birth, marriage, death – and land records – grantor-grantee. The county just does court records, and all villages are under the town(ship) as the incorporated unit of government. The Clerk, Lisa Wilson, explained all this and had records back to 1855. Our deeds were before that and she directed us to Killingly, the town they split away from in 1855, for records back to 1700. Another nice Clerk here directed us to Windham Town Hall at Willimantic for our specific very early needs. There a third nice Town Clerk quickly gave us access to the typed indexes and nicely-laminated hand-written transactions.

We soon located the MEACHAM family vital dates & land deals. She made copies at $1 each for the land. We tried to track modern-day owner with an updated description, rather than metes & bounds, in order to actually see the property, but to no avail. Time was a limiting factor here, because most government offices close at noon on Friday for the weekend. The library in Willimantic did stay open later and we searched there, but no-one seemed to know the location of Merrick Brook, a vital landmark in the description.

Then we drove to Hebron, CT………everything is close in CT, MA, VT, NH & RI, with the center of almost every Town(ship) being a settled area six miles or less away from the next settlement. Southwestern Maine is that way, too, as well as some parts of New York & Pennsylvania. In the Gillead Cemetery just north of Hebron, we located the ELLIS, MERRILL & SAWYER families. Ann’s 6X & 7X great-grandparents. Several tombstones – weathered slabs of sandstone – were inscribed with a woman’s name and “Amiable consort of John” or whoever.

But the old cemetery we were directed to in that same direction was not the one whose official name is Old Cemetery, so although it was a quaint little stone-walled cemetery, it was no help. We then drove southwest of Hebron to Hope Valley and took photos of the SKINNER family mill-pond & mill-race (now abandoned) and the white wooden Hope Valley Church, also unused now………Oct. 4, Today back to Hebron for a library visit. Found information on Ann’s BRONSON/BROWNSON, DICKINSON, EDWARDS, ELLIS, GOODRICH/GOODRIDGE, MACK, MERRILL, PEASE, SAWYER and SKINNER families……then in the rain to the new Old Cemetery for stones of Edward & Elizabeth SAWYER, Ann’s 7X great-grandparents……Oct. 5, Farmington, CT. Located the town reservoir, formerly a mill-pond, for Ann’s 9X great-grandfather John BRONSON/BROWNSON………Oct. 11…….took a trip 40 miles northwest to Rome, NY, and found info on General John ELLIS & Asa MERRILL in the Jervis Library there……Oct. 12, Heading west toward Avon & Riga, south of Rochester…..west of Herkimer we see the first field of soybeans we have seen in the Northeast. Near Syracuse the corn fields become bigger & better than in the Northeast………We wound a little old cemetery on Poleville Bridge Road southeast of Avon with 25-30 graves, including Asenath, Grace, and George MERRILL, wife, mother-in-law, and son of Asher MERRILL, brother of Ann’s 3X great-grandfather Daniel MERRILL Jr. Then talked to a woman at the supermarket, who happened to be the sister of the town historian. Called and got her searching for the record of the grave of Daniel’s first wife, Nancy PHELPS MERRILL, since there is no stone for her…..Then drove thru Caledonia to Riga, NY, another little town where Daniel once owned land. They were in this area of New York in the 1820 & 1830 censuses, and he was a widower in MI by 1838.

Oct. 15, to Republic, OH and its Scipio Township cemetery……We quickly found the graves of Ann’s great-great-grandparents, Nathan & Ann Matilda SHAW BALDWIN, 3X great-grandparents, Robert & Sarah KELLER SHAW, and 4X great grandparents, Joseph & Mary Magdalene Andre KELLER. After visiting with the village superintendent we located the BALDWIN home in Republic, and then from yesterday’s plat map research we drove to and photographed the farm homes of the above families. With our research appetites quenched and a foot-high stack of copier sheets to keep Ann busy collating all winter, we headed to I-90 and the return route to Sebewa Township.

BYRON GIBBS CONTINUES FROM LAST ISSUE:

A small can of juice, a candy bar, and an apple or orange were my emergency rations. We had no canned “C” rations all through the maneuvers.

Chiggers, a type of tick, were the most annoying insect during the Louisiana Maneuvers. As we slept on the ground, the chiggers would dig in under your arms and around your waist. They would not go completely under your skin, just their heads so they could get blood. Their back end was exposed but if you tried to pull them out their head would break off and an infected sore would result. The most effective way to get them loose was to put a lighted cigarette close to their exposed body and they would back out and drop off.

Many times we were on the move and we slept in our clothes. Sometimes sleeping was just short naps between moves. There might be three or four days at a time like this. If it rained, we slept on the ground. When it did not rain there was quite often an very heavy dew in the morning that kept you quite damp.

Near the end of August, we had gone several miles down a sand road, and had stopped near a home of an elderly couple. I had described it in a letter to Gertie, who later became my wife, as having a hand split shingle roof, no regular windows, just openings with doors. The chimney was clay stones and sticks. In my photo album there is a picture of this place. It was in the vicinity of Lake Charles.

We covered a lot of miles on maneuvers. One night we rode 115 miles in trucks to get 40 miles. During maneuvers we had been the following places at sometime or other: Lake Charles, DeRidder, Longville, Roseville, Oakdale, Pineville, Eunica, Forest Hill, McNutt, Leesville, Bunkie, and Turkey Creek. I have not been able to locate on the state map Roseville which was near Lake Charles or McNutt near Turkey Creek. These may have been too small to be listed.

About Sept. 10th, I must have had some extra time to rest because I had listed in a letter all the things I had in my pack and things I carried. By this time I had six rolls of exposed film in the water proof rubber sack.

By September 24 we were camped in a nice dry wooded area called Turkey Creek. We had dug the garbage pit and had out pup tents all pitched in a neat row. It was a pleasant evening and we wondered why the area was called Turkey Creek. There appeared to be no creek in the area and the camp area was dry. After the evening meal we went to sleep in our pup tents. We had trenched the tent as usual so if it did rain the water would run off. During the night there was the patter of rain on the tent but we slept soundly, good and dry. Sometime during the night I felt something cold, slide down my back which woke me with a start. At first I thought it was a snake, but soon found out it was water. We got a box or some Jerry Cans from the kitchen to put our packs and equipment on to keep dry then went back to sleep in the water with our heads propped up. When we got up in the morning, we found the whole area flooded with a couple of inches of water. After some coffee and breakfast I got out my camera which had been kept dry in the waterproof rubber sack and took some pictures of the company area. These pictures in my photo album show clearly what a mess the camp looked like and how wet and muddy we all were.

On Friday, Sept. 26th, we had a nine-mile double time march with packs followed by 15 mile ride on trucks then we camped in an area with red sticky clay. Maneuvers were now nearly over and on Monday, Sept. 29th we arrived back in Camp Livingston before noon. We had been on the Louisiana Maneuvers from Aug. 11th to Sept. 29th. Seven weeks we had been living out of our packs and carrying them, eating out of our mess kits and sleeping on the ground and setting on the ground to eat.

If Gertie who later became my wife and my mother had not saved so carefully all the letters I wrote it would not have been possible to write this in the detail that I have.

From an enlisted man’s point of view, we did gain something from the seven weeks of being out in the weather, many times with little sleep, soaked with rain and sometimes with very little to eat. We were physically conditioned and perhaps more importandly mentally conditioned, knowing what we could go through if we had to. Everyone had learned something from the 2nd and 3rd Army Maneuvers.

The first thing after the Louisiana Maneuvers was getting the equipment and clothing clean. There, we were then inspected. On Oct. 3rd we had a 126th Infantry Regimental Review followed on Oct. 4th by a 32nd Division Review.

There was a trip to the New Orleans recreation area near Lake Pontchartrain on Friday Oct. 10th and back Sunday evening on army trucks. While in New Orleans, this time I had an opportunity to go to the St. Louis Cathedral.

Some of the National Guard were back home in Michigan on furlough. Training was not as it usually was for a short time. Construction work was still in progress at Camp Livingston. Some of the churches were now being completed. The one nearest to our area was completed and dedicated Sunday Oct. 19th.

By October 23 we had received tetanus shots and were firing on the 1000 inch 22 caliber range. The bulls-eye on the paper targets were about the size of a quarter as I remember.

It was now getting so there were some rather cool nights. We would have the gas heater on in the tent but the gas pressure was low so we did not have sufficient heat.

The entire company now took its turn at guard duty around Oct. 30th. It was cold and we wore the WW I wool overcoats and wool gloves. The guard duty consisted of guarding prisoners from the guard house who were on a work detail digging stumps.

During the Louisiana Maneuvers I had taken many pictures and a number of fellows wanted to get reprints to send home. I sold reprints at a couple of cents over cost to cover part of the cost of the film. I think almost everyone in the Company must have some of these prints.

By Nov. 9th it was much colder and it was necessary to keep the gas heater in the tent on full blast. On Armisist Day Nov. 11, 1941 the 32nd Division marched in Alexandria, Louisiana.
(To be continued)

THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Bulletin of the Sebewa Center Association,
FEBRUARY 2004, Volume 39, Number 4. Sebewa Township, Ionia County, Michigan.
Submitted with written permission of Editor, Grayden D. SLOWINS:


SURNAMES: BROWN, INGALLS, STACY, SHOWERMAN, LIVINGSTON, LAZARUS, PATRICK, FLETCHER, DAGGER, McDOWELL, GOODEMOOT, FOX, WOLCOTT, SLOWINSKI, RAIRIGH, HEFFELBOWER, HUNT, GUNN, LEIK, FORD, OLDS, MARTIN, KNOX, NORTHRUP, STAUFFEL, GIBBS, AMES

RECENT DEATHS:

GEORGE LEIGHTON BROWN, 82, husband of Gaylia BROWN BROWN, brother of Bernadine STALTER, son of Walter & Mary SNYDER BROWN, son of Fred E. BROWN, son of James H. BROWN, son of John & Sarah (Sally) INGALLS BROWN, who settled at SE ¼ Sec. 24 Sebewa Township on KEEFER Hwy. in 1838.

Mary SNYDER was the granddaughter of Dr. George WASHINGON SNYDER, Civil War Veteran. Gaylia is the granddaughter of Stacy BROWN, son of Delia STACY & Irving A. BROWN, son of Melissa SHOWERMAN & Eleazer BROWN, who settled on 160 acres at NW Sec. 26 & NE Sec. 27 Sebewa Township, on MUSGROVE Hwy. at Sunfield Rd. in 1939.

George served in the Civilian Conservation Corps in the late 1930s and in the U.S. Marines in the South Pacific in World War II. He was a barber in Lake Odessa and Ionia, then retired from the Michigan Department of Corrections. He was a life member of Sheridan VFW and they were longtime active members of Ionia Historical Society, as well as Sebewa Center Association.

R. GEORGE LIVINGSTON, 66, husband of Janice (Jan) BROWN LIVINGSTON, father of Richard LAZARUS, Vivian Amy PATRICK, Dawn Fletcher, Roy George Livingston, Jr., Joseph LAZARUS, Mary JAYNE, Elizabeth (Beth) HELMS, Carl Eric LIVINGSTON, Laura Davis & Mathew LIVINGSTON, brother of Margaret SCHWALLIE and the late Shirley ELLSWORTH, son of Roy & Ruth DAGGER LIVINGSTON. Born in North Canton, OH, he was a longtime employee of United Airlines and active on the councils of St. Patrick’s Church and Knights of Columbus. Recently he worked for Portland Federal Credit Union. Burial in the Spring in East Sebewa Cemetery. Jan is the daughter of Marian & Burton BROWN, son of Harry BROWN, son of Fred E. BROWN, son of James H. BROWN, son of John & Sally INGALLS BROWN, similar to above BROWN family.

J. FORD McDOWELL, 63, brother of Robert, James, Ross and Joel McDOWELL, son of Marian GOODEMOOT & John McDOWELL, son of James & Ethel McDOWELL. Marian was the daughter of Sadie FOX & Donald GOODEMOOT, son of Russell GOODEMOOT, son of John & Mary J. GOODEMOOT, great-great-granddaughter of Oliver WOLCOTT, Governor of Connecticut and signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Ford farmed all his life on the family farm, the former Roman SLOWINSKI farm, was Chairman of Ionia County ASCS Committee, member of Lake Odessa Co-operative Elevator Board, Berlin Township Board of Review, Lake Odessa Lions Club, and Central United Methodist Church and Choir. Burial in the Spring in Lake Odessa Lakeside Cemetery.

GLENWOOD R. RAIRIGH, 73, husband of Flossie HEFFELBOWER RAIRIGH, father of Glen, Gerald, Greg and Gailen RAIRIGH, brother of Peggy CURELL and the late Frances OWEN, son of Glenn & Etta HUNT RAIRIGH. He was a lumberman, plant protection at Diamond Reo & Motor Wheel, owner of a saw shop, antique appraiser, and former Sunfield Township Treasurer. Burial in Woodland Memorial Park. According to the late Clarence SAYER & Glenn RAIRIGH, the RAIRIGHS are related to Clarence’s maternal grandmother, Amelia (Mrs. Theodore) GUNN, of Sebewa Township, although her family spelled it RARICK, at least on her tombstone.

PHOTOS ON FRONT COVER: GRAYDEN & ANN SLOWINS ARE ON THE WAY TO FLORIDA with photos at Louisville, KY and Birmingham, AL.

THE FIRST AUTOMOBILES AND THE LAST BUGGY by George LEIK:

The first car in our southern Michigan farm community of Portland was a 1904 RAMBLER purchased by the local watch repairman. This car was one of few in Portland or as a matter of fact, the world, that preceded my birth in April, 1905.

Henry FORD established his company in 1903 and Ransom E. OLDS was producing the “curved dash” Oldsmobile the same year.

The first car that I distinctly remember was a REO touring car owned by Dr. Frank MARTIN. It was a two cylinder with the engine under the front seat and cranked from the side. Dr. MARTIN drove to our farm several times in summer 1908 to treat me for sunstroke.

A WHITE steamer was another car that frequented our road. It belonged to Fred KNOX, the local banker who owned a neighboring farm. The car was silent except for a slight hissing sound and I believe it had a rear entrance. The final drive was a roller chain (like a huge bicycle chain) and completely open to the mud and dust.

Mr. KNOX drove the steamer until 1913 when he purchased a WHITE gasoline-powered touring car painted orange with black trim; I don’t remember whether it was a four or six cylinder. WHITES were manufactured in Cleveland and I remember that the car arrived in Portland on a railroad flatcar.

Another early auto in our neighborhood was a one cylinder BRUSH “Runabout” that was built in Detroit. Later its owner replaced it with a REO. Incidentally, “REO” stands for Ransom E. OLDS who started this company about 1908 when he sold OLDSMOBILE to GENERAL MOTORS. Neither REO or WHITE survived long as automobiles and both became truck manufacturers that survived as independent companies until the 1960s.

In the spring of 1914 our family purchased what was to be our last buggy. It was on sale in the Sears Roebuck catalog for $49.75 and included a rubber covered boot that fitted over the dashboard and protected the driver and passengers from rain.

The buggy arrived in a crate at the railroad station and my older brothers, Jerry and Henry brought it home with the team and wagon. They unloaded it under the maple tree and everyone helped assemble the running gear (wheels, axles and springs) that was red with black stripping. The box, dash and seat top were black and the seats had black broadcloth upholstery. We immediately hitched it to our driving horse Nancy and went on the road for a “spin”.

In 1915 our neighbor Del NORTHRUP who we kids called Uncle Delly purchased a six cylinder GRANT touring car that was made in Ohio.

Our family finally became motorized in 1916 with the purchase of a Model T that had a black radiator shell instead of the familiar brass one. In the first several years we seldom drove the Model T in the winter and used either the buggy or a sleigh. But by 1920 the horse-drawn vehicles were retired and the car was our only method of transportation, although we kept a team of horses for field work until 1946. By the early 1920s virtually everyone in Portland had an automobile; the transformation had taken only 20 years! END

LEIK FAMILY UPDATE:

In connection with the above story, Charles LEIK has recently completed an eight-year restoration of a 1946 Dodge Power Wagon. He had some mechanical help on the engine from Ron WELLS and the beautiful multi-coat paint job was done by Jim GOODMAN.

Also in connection with the LEIK family, a few words about the Henry STAUFFEL family. A World War I Veteran, Henry came to the United States in 1923. A painter by trade, he found his first job painting in a hotel in Detroit, probably the old Book-Cadillac, whose ornate-but-scavengered interior was recently in the news. Henry was a brother to Mimi (Mrs. Marcus) GALER, and his wife was a sister to Tony LEIK.

So they came to Portland and had a farm on BARR Road, later owned by George LEIK. After selling to George, they owned a gas station and cabins on U.S. 27 north of St. Johns. When the highway was re-routed, their station was done and they retired to a home on the St. Mary’s River in the U.P. Their only child, Enga, a retired teacher, is still living and spends her summers up there.

AMES FAMILY:

Letter from Byron L. GIBBS of Mt. Pleasant, MI, to Ms. Nancy BRUNETTE in Mulliken, MI; Dec. 18, 2003:

Dear Ms. BRUNETTE – The family record of Byron GIBBS (1850-1908) shows his mother Mariam AMES GIBBS was born April 12, 1821, in Courtright, State of Delaware. She married Robert GIBBS in Holmes Co., OH, Jan. 1, 1840. She moved to Isasbella Co., Michigan, in 1855 and two years later to the Township of Sebewa, Ionia Co., Michigan, where she lived until the time of her death which occurred January 25, 1896, at the home of her daughter Mrs. Columbus SANDBORN. She joined the Methodist Episcopal Church with her husband Jan. 23, 1852, and afterwards transferred her membership to the Wesleyan Methodist Church which she was a member of at the time of her death.

Maternal Grandfather of Byron GIBBS (1850-1908) Ansel AMES was born 1795. He was an American Soldier in the War of 1812, enlisting the first year of the war (this was the father of Mariam AMES GIBBS).

Maternal Great-Grandfather of Byron GIBBS (1850-1908) Cheney AMES (the grandfather of Mariam AMES GIBBS)

Some time ago I obtained a photo copy of the 1875 plat map of Sebewa from Grayden SLOWINS. Section 11 shows 20 acres L. G. AMES in the NW ¼ of the section near the TRAVIS District 8 School. (Editor’s note: Adda L. AMES, wife of Lorenzo G. AMES, is buried in East Sebewa Cemetery. She died July 6, 1869. Apparently Lorenzo and Adda are not close relation to Byron, nor Byron L. GIBBS.)

I have an abstract of the property in Section 11 my father bought in 1910 and it came eventually to me. The abstract lists owners as follows:

#1 Worlin GREY by patent from United States of America Nov. 2, 1837; Recorded July 19, 1848, Liber F of Deeds, page 72. 320 acres the west half of Section 11.
#2 David BALLENTINE
#3 Alexander H. MOMSON
#4 John CLIFFORD
#5 Nathan D. CLIFFORD
#6 Sylvester DEAN
#7 Nathan D. CLIFFORD
#8 George W. PIERCE
#9 Mary E. BICE
#10 William GOTT
#11 School District Number Eight, one-half acre, eight rods by twelve rods Oct. 7, 1870
#12 John E. AMES and Mattie F. AMES 12 acres Oct. 26, 1871
#13 John E. AMES, March 29, 1888 Liber 93, Page of Deeds 481
#14 Watson MERCHANT
#15 Henry P. YOUNG
#16 James CROWELL and Orpha M. CROWELL
#17 Albert COON
#18 James COMISKY
#19 Edward C. COMISKEY and James COMISKEY
#20 Albert Bruce GIBBS Jan. 28, 1910, Liber 160 page 375 (A.
Bruce GIBBS from #10 William GOTT.) (eventually to Byron L. GIBBS)

Some entries were small portion transfers.

John E. AMES and Mattie F. AMES are the only AMES shown on the abstract. I do not know why L. G. AMES is shown on the 1875 Sebewa Plat Map but not on the abstract.

Sincerely, (signed) Byron L. GIBBS.

ABSTRACT OF TITLES – PATENT TO DATE:

Commencing 15 ½ rods East of the Northwest corner of Section Eleven (11), Town of Sebewa, thence South 15 ½ rods, thence West 4 ½ rods, thence South 14 ½ rods, thence East 16 ¾ rods, thence North 30 rods, thence West 12 1/6 rods to the place of beginning, be the same more or less, being in Township Five (5) North, Range Six (6) West, Michigan, and 5 acres of land off from the South side of the following described piece of land: Commencing at the Northwest corner of Section Eleven (11), 60 rods, thence East at right angles with said Section line 27 2/3rds rods, thence North parallel with said Section line 60 rods to Section line between Sections 11 and 2, thence West along said Section line to the place of beginning, containing in whole description 10 acres.

ALSO, Commencing at the Northwest corner stake of Section Eleven (11), Town Five (5) North, Range Six (6) West, running thence East 8.0 rods, thence South 12 rods, thence West 8 rods, thence North 12 rods to the point of beginning. (Containing 0.6 acres more or less, returning to TRAVIS School lot to the original 10-acre description.)
Cc: Grayden SLOWINS.

BYRON GIBBS WORLD WAR II MEMOIRS CONTINUED:

The day before Thanksgiving, I went with the cook to draw rations for Thanksgiving dinner. We got six turkeys, which had a total weight of 87 lbs. This was for the 80 we expected to be present. Many were home on furlough and those over 28 years old had been discharged. The army was now also willing to release from the two and one-half year training period any only son with a widowed mother if his financial support was needed at home. On this basis I filed a request for release. I had been sending home money orders each month of about $15 but this was not really enough. It was however the best I could do as I only received $23.30 cash each month after the deduction for insurance.

The priority for a furlough was given those who would be serving the full two and one-half year training period. It was thought that those who requested release would soon be home any way.

The Thanksgiving dinner on Nov. 20, 1941 was a meal to be remembered. Lt. Arthur BUSH, our Company Commander, must have saved the company fund during maneuvers for this occasion. He had menus printed in a booklet form that were set at each place setting in the mess hall. In the booklet addition to the menu was a list of all the members of Company C including those transferred or discharged during that year.

The menu was shrimp cocktail, celery hearts, stuffed olives, saltine crackers, roast young turkey with cranberry sauce, giblet gravy, celery dressing, snowflake potatoes, creamed peas, escalloped corn, candied yams, lettuce and tomato salad, hot rolls, butter, coffee, mince pie, pumpkin pie, layer cake, mixed nuts, fruit, cigars and cigarettes.

There were only 80 there for this dinner, the others were home on furlough or had been discharged. This dinner made up in a way for not being home. I would have to wait for a while to get home.

At the end of November we were on a field problem with our packs, the WW I helmets and gas masks. It was very cold and we also wore our long underwear which the fellows called “goobie gothches”. That was a new term to me. About this time we had our blood tested and type “O” was stamped on my dog tags.

On Thursday, Dec. 4, 1941, we had been on a night problem and then to Lake Pontchartrain at New Orleans. On Sunday morning Dec. 7, 1941, we were on army trucks going back to Camp Livingston. We found out about the attack on Pearl Harbor when the convoy was at Baton Rouge. We knew this meant war.

DECEMBER 7, 1941 – NOVEMBER 9, 1942:
We arrived back in Camp Livingston Sunday, December 7. The following day we were on alert and there was a lot of confusion. We were issued some live ammunition and were guarding some highway bridges. The headlines of the Alexandria Daily on December 8 read “U.S. IN WAR”.

There was the feeling the Japanese may have espionage teams that would destroy vital highway bridges, refineries, critical electrical facilities and factories. This feeling at times, we thought, bordered on hysteria.

I remember some from our company were guarding one bridge and the nights were rather cool. This bridge had a surface of creosoted paving blocks and on the bank at the end of the bridge, a small pile of these blocks were kept for repair. One of the guard details, to keep warm, burned some of these blocks. Later when we were overseas in Australia, the Company Commander got a bill from the road commission for the blocks that were burned. As I recall, the bill was just a few dollars.

The Company Commander told us about it and paid the bill from the company fund. We thought the action of the road commission was rather petty. I am not sure of the bridge location but I do know that on December 12 we were guarding the bridge on US Highway 51 at North Pass and South Pass near Akers, Louisiana.

By December 18 I had sent home by express my photo album, many other things I had no room to store and a money order to mother for $10.00. We knew a move was coming but we did not know where. On December 22, the 3rd Platoon of Company C under the command of Sg. Bert Adams, was sent to Ponchatoula, Louisiana and billeted in the upstairs over the fire hall on folding canvas cots. The platoon was self sufficient with our own kitchen personnel. The platoon was assigned the duty of guarding a small shipyard construction ocean going tugs. Those tugs we found out would be going to Iceland. Our platoon in Ponchatoula we referred to as the AFF (Adams Expeditionary Force).

This was my first experience of being in a small southern town and seeing first hand what segregation meant. We had no colored people in Clare, Michigan when I was a boy. When I worked in Detroit in 1939, 1940 and early 1941, there were many colored people living in an area I drove through to get to work. There were colored beauty shops, restaurants, and other small colored businesses. I did not think of this as segregation, it just seemed normal since the same was true of other groups. The Polish for example lived in Hamtramck and had their own shops and small businesses but this was the way things had always been. We did not look at it as segregation, it was considered a matter of choice, that people would live with their own group.

In Ponchatoula on the main street, there were two identical drinking fountains several steps apart, one with a sing for white only, the other for colored only. The two drinking fountains were connected to the same water supply and both fountains looked identical, only one for white and the other for colored. This was my first view of a sharp dividing line for white and colored.

This was a peaceful town. The jail was even unoccupied. The main industry in the community centered around strawberries. Ponchatoula was called the Strawberry Capitol of the World. There was a processing plant for strawberries that for one thing shipped the strawberry topping to soda fountains all over. We did have some of that strawberry topping one time when some was delivered to our kitchen. It was excellent. I also remember one time when some fresh water shrimp or crayfish that had been boiled in some spicy water was delivered to us as a gift. They were delicious.

There was a veneer plant that made a thin veneer not for furniture but for making strawberry boxes. In our fee time we visited the strawberry processing plant and the veneer plant. I was surprised at the lack of any machinery guards to prevent injury. There seemed to be a lack of any state regulation. No license was required to drive a car there but the car did need to have a $2 license plate………The other platoons of Company C were guarding other locations. I think some of the company was at a refinery at Baton Rouge. It was now Christmas and the town people in Ponchatoula wanted to have a soldier with them for Christmas. I told Sgt. Adams I would rather not go because Christmas for me had always been at home, since that was not possible, I would prefer to spend it quietly.

One day near the end of 1941 our Company C’s 1st Sargent visited us in Ponchatoula and asked us if we had any questions or problems. I asked him if there was any way I could have an allotment from my pay sent directly to my mother. I told him sending a money order was not always easy to do. He said he would find out. He thought it would be a good idea and he would also like to do it. This resulted in an allotment of $15 per month to go directly to mother. This left me with $8.30 cash at the pay table after the deduction for life insurance.

My letter to Gertie noted the dentist visited us in Ponchatoula and I got four fillings in 15 minutes with the dentist using a portable drill. My letter to mother the same day, Jan. 23, 1942, said I filled out the income tax forms showing the 1941 income from American Metal Products was $663.70 and from the US Army $219.00 making a total of $882.70. All over $750 was taxable for a single man and I would have to pay about $9.00 tax, but if I showed mother as a dependent there would be no tax.

By Jan. 29, 1942, we were back at Camp Livingston. There was KP duty Feb. 1, 2, and 3 followed by a practice alert on February 6 for rail movement. Everything had to be packed and crated to go by train. We then went to the drill field then back and unpacked everything.

By February 15 we knew a rail movement would be coming very soon. I took the noncommissioned officer exam and passed it. I was determined to do the best I could since I was in the army until the war was over. At that time I also submitted an application for commissioned officer and I was examined by the officer board of the Battalion. I knew this was a long shot because only 36 from the entire division were to be selected and we expected they all would be Sargents.

On February 20, 1942, we left Camp Livingston by train and arrived at Ft. Devens, Massachusetts the morning of Feb. 23. There, for the first time, we had wooden two story barracks buildings that held 63 men. Thirty-one were down stairs and thirty-two up stairs. Since we were one of the first units to arrive, we had the job of starting the coal fired furnaces of barracks and also setting up the bunks.

My first trip to Boston was Saturday, Feb. 28th. I got there late in the afternoon and came back on the last train at 11:30 P.M. The cost at the time for a round trip from Ayers to Boston was 75 cents and the bus from Ayers to Ft. Devens was 10 cents.

On March 7, I was on KP duty. This was followed by guard duty. My post was around the water tower and it was snowing and blowing. The two hours I was there along about 2:00 a.m. you could hardly see and by the time I walked around the four legs of the water tower the foot prints were nearly covered.

One day I heard on the Boston radio station that the Chief Signal Officer asked electrical engineers to apply for a commission as an officer in the Signal Corps. With the permission of our commanding officer, Arthur BUSH, I notified the Chief Signal Officer I was interested.

On Saturday, March 14, we had a Division review with 30,000 soldiers marching 12 abreast. On this day also there were no more civilians allowed on camp.

On March 17, I left from Worchester for Clare on the train for a 10-day furlough. This was my first time home since I started my military service. It was wonderful to be home and see Gertie and mother. The time went quickly and I was back at Ft. Devens at 10:30 in the morning of March 28 after a 24-hour train trip. The following day I found out I was promoted to private first class. This meant a few dollars more pay and one more stripe on my sleeve. (To be continued)

THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Bulletin of the Sebewa Center Association,
APRIL 2004, Volume 39, Number 5. Sebewa Township, Ionia County, Michigan.
Submitted with written permission of Editor, Grayden D. SLOWINS:


SURNAMES: COBMOOSA, COOK, WESSEL, CROSBY, POWELL, DEXTER, CAMPAU, GIBBS

MICHIGAN PLACE NAMES:

COBMOOSA, Oceana County: In 1885 the federal government and 54 Indian chiefs, including COBMOOSA (1768-1866), signed a treaty by which the Indians gave up their lands near Grand Rapids and Ionia for new lands here and $540,000 in money and goods. In 1857, some 750 people, and in 1858, some 550 more, were transported here by boat, and schools and a log cabin for the chief were built. About three miles east, in a store operated by COOK and WESSEL, was the COBMOOSA post office, opened December 10, 1866, with Daniel W. CROSBY as its first postmaster. The post office closed February 7, 1878, but was restored from March 22, 1878, to June 13, 1916, when the store burned down. The post office was not re-opened, but the area and its lake are still known as COBMOOSA (Post Office Archives).

Ionia’s Native American population was typical of Great Lakes natives, and when the whites came they reacted in a typical manner, trading with skepticism and humoring the whites’ strange customs. When the Europeans began to war over rights to the Great Lakes region, the native nations took sides and fought with the whites against each other.

Many great chiefs were glorified in these wars. One of his last chiefs in the Ionia area was COBMOOSA. Several different stories have been related about his life and exploits. Whichever stories are true, he was a popular chief of the people along the central Grand River Valley for many years. He accompanied other chiefs to meet with the white governments in Detroit and Washington to negotiate treaties, and a monument stands near the site of COBMOOSA’S village, by the floral building on the resent-day Ionia Fairgrounds. The native population at the local settlement was estimated at 50 in 1830, and many other encampments dotted the area.

There were only 28 white settlements in all of Michigan Territory in 1830, which included what is now Wisconsin. Detroit was still a fort of logs an earth surrounded by a cluster of wood-frame buildings. Chicago was just platted in 1830 and consisted of 12 families huddled along Lake Michigan. Even in 1844, Joseph PRIESTLY POWELL passed up a chance to buy, for one yoke of oxen, forty acres of worthless swamp, now called “The Loop” in Chicago, to purchase 160 acres of well-drained land in Ronald Township, Ionia County.

Samuel DEXTER had made money during the excavation of the Erie Canal, and headed west upon it. He visited Louis CAMPAU’S trading post at present-day Grand Rapids and staked a claim there and at Ionia, recording both at the same time at White Pigeon in 1832. In May 1833, the 63 people of the DEXTER Colony left Herkimer County, New York, for Michigan. Only 62 arrived, because little Riley DEXTER died of cholera and was buried at the east line of Riley Township, Clinton County, where PRATT Road crosses Muskrat Creek, just 30 miles out. For more than 100 years, his grave could be found marked by a blaze on an elm tree.

At Ionia the settlers purchased some of the bark-covered wigwams and the gardens already planted by the native Americans. COBMOOSA’S people relocated several miles downstream, gradually working their way to Lowell. It was from Lowell that many were moved to Oceana County. COBMOOSA often came back to visit his daughter, whose home still stands at 803 N. Washington in Lowell.

Sources for COBMOOSA story: “Michigan Place Names by Walter ROMIG, Wayne State University Press. 1986.

BYRON GIBBS’ WORLD WAR II MEMOIRS CONTINUED:

On Monday morning, March 30, I started radio school. That same day I received a letter from Chief Signal Officer with forms to fill out saying I may be qualified for a direct appointment as a 2nd Lt.

We now had a new mailing address Company C, 126 Infantry, APO 32 c/o Postmaster, New York, New York.

On April 2, 1942 was the first letter I was able to send home by writing “FREE” in the place of a stamp. For the remainder of the war, no postage stamps were necessary. Now I was in radio school each day 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

By April 7, radio school was closing and we were getting ready to move again. We were on the range that day and Lt. REED said he would have his wife send my camera home to mother. That evening we got on a train and were in motion by 9:00 p.m.

By April 11, 1942, we completed a 4400-mile trip and were near San Francisco. We saw some beautiful scenery especially in the Rocky Mountains. We traveled first class in Pullman cars and meals in the dining car. We had gone through Salt Lake City at night so we did not see much of it. We did see the prison, Alcatraz, in San Francisco Bay. At the time it seemed fairly close to land.

At first we were billeted in pyramidal tents similar to the type we had in Camp Livingston. These tens had the old style sheet metal cone like Sibley store in a sand box in the center of the tent. This stove could be fired with coal or wood.

We knew this was a staging area for over-seas shipment. Many were discarding what they did not feel they could take with them. I bought a table top electric radio for fifty cents. The case did not look new but it worked fine. I had room in one of my bags for it. If it got so it did not work I would not lose much. I ended up being the only one with a radio. At this location, we were fed cafeteria style from one mess hall.

By April 15, we were in the Cow Palace and billeted in the horse stalls with dirt floors. Here we were, now issued the new type helmets with liners.

By April 17, 1942, we had received about three thousand replacements in the division to bring it to full strength. The location we were at reminded me of a prison compound surrounded by barbed wire. We were not allowed to leave the area. They wanted to make sure everyone was there when the order came to move.

In a letter to my mother, I had written the 1st Lt. Arthur BUSH was promoted to Captain. Lt. George REED was second in command and was very well liked and very capable.

The Cow Palace had dirt floors and it was very dusty. We were eating out doors by the live stock pavilion. At this time we had a new address, APO #32 c/o Postmaster, San Francisco, California instead of New York.

On April 19, 1942, we were on the ocean liner USAT Lurline but we did not leave the harbor until April 22. The first two days at sea it was a little rough but the rest of the trip the ocean was rather smooth. The group I was with was billeted on deck in bunks four high so closely spaced you could not sit up. The deck area we were at was like an open porch. It had a solid roof above and a canvas lashed up for a wall where the ship rail was. We were not allowed to roam around on the ship and stayed in our area generally unless we went to the dining area. With so many on the ship we ate in shifts. As I remember, each unit had their own time to eat. They may have had meals around the clock to feed everyone.

The dining room did not have the appearance it formerly had as a luxury liner but the meals were good and we had chicken, turkey, fresh frozen vegetables and fruit. In war time the liner traveled under black out conditions with no open lights showing. Any washing or showering on the boat was done with salty sea water. This always left you feeling sticky.

When we crossed the equator, there was a ceremony with Neptunus Rex Ruler of the Raging Main and his court to initiate us as shellbacks. We received a little green card to carry in the billfold to show we had crossed the equator. The division photographer on board took pictures of the ceremony and we were allowed to purchase reprints of the pictures which they could send home when we landed.

On May 6, 1942, I was promoted to Corporal while sailing across the Pacific. A Corporal was the lowest noncommissioned rating but it did have some responsibility as a Corporal was the second in command of a squad. It also meant no more KP or work detail. It also resulted in an increase in pay and two stripes on my sleeve.

On May 14, 1942, we arrived at Port Adelaide, Australia. There the army mailed postal cards to our home addresses which said “arrived safely” and we signed our name.

Australia is south of the equator so the seasons are reversed with the winter months being July and August. As we arrived, their fall season was approaching. We were transported to Camp Sandy Creek that the Australians had set up for us. There were a number of things new to us. First we had to adjust to a new currency system, 1 L (one pound) equaling $3.26, 1/-(shilling) equal to 16 ½ cents and 3d (pence) equaling four cents. The shilling was about the size of a quarter. The copper pence was nearly the size of a half dollar.

The Australian army kitchen struck me as unusual. It was a roof over screened in area with a concrete floor. The stove was a steam boiler. All the cooking pots set on the floor with a steam hose stuck in them to cook the food. All the steam hoses going across the floor into bubbling cooking pots made me think of an octopus.

I remember one time early in our stay here having mutton stew dished out into our mess kits when we were standing in a cold rain. The cold rain drops congealed floating discs of mutton tallow that stuck to the roof of your mouth giving a rather unpleasant sensation.

The Australian soldiers delivered unwrapped bread in the back of an army stake rack truck. The bread had been baked without being put in a pan and it looked like cobble stones about 8” in diameter. The Australian soldiers unloading it treated it like stones. They walked on it and threw it off in a pile by the kitchen like a pile of rocks. The bread had a hard crust but it was excellent.

The only building we had was a multipurpose corrugated metal roofed building. There were tables here where we could write letters and read in the evening. The electric power for the lights was 240 volts. The light bulbs instead of having the screw in Edison base, had a bayonet base like auto tail light bulbs. I had the 110 volt radio I bought for 50 cents while in the U.S. and the company barber had his 110 volt electric clippers. I knew each of these could be made to work by putting the correct size light bulbs in a series to drop the voltage to 110 or close to it. On the first trip to town I bought some lamp cord, light bulbs, sockets, and plugs. We ended up with a working radio and our company barber was back in business.

While in town I bought a ten-shilling pocket watch ($1.63). I did not expect a watch at this price to last long. It did operate for a couple of months though. The works were much different and simpler than a conventional watch. I also got weighed on a penny scale which showed my weight as 10 stones, 12 pounds. This by our weight system was 152 pounds. I had gained about 5 pounds on the trip across the ocean.

In town I noticed a number of things the Australians in Adelaide had a “cheer up House” like our USO. Their comfort station for service men and women had a cafeteria, billiard tables, reading room and hot showers. Most young women in town I did not think knew how to use make-up very well. They tried to imitate Hollywood. This applied to those under 20 mostly. Many Australians seemed to think we met Hollywood stars back home on a regular basis and were surprised that we did not.

So many fairly young women even in their 20s were reported to be wearing false teeth. The reason for this I did not know. The Australians referred to us as “Yanks” and to their own soldiers as “diggers”. Coffee we soon found out was made with milk instead of water. Sometimes a liquid essence of coffee was used instead of real coffee. I did not care too much for coffee made with milk. Pay phones in town operated on two pence for local calls. Long distance calls were priced on distance. One thing we did miss was there were no hamburger stands as we were used to in the U.S.

So much was different. A civilian owning a radio had to buy a license to have it in their home. Street cars were called trams. The tire on an auto was spelled tyre. Gasoline or petrol, as they called it, was scarce and taxi cabs ran on gas generated in two pressure cooker like affairs about 15 or 20 gallon size mounted on the rear bumper usually. The cab driver had a small tank of petrol he used to start the motor. As soon as the motor was running the driver reached under the dash and shut off the petcock and the gas from the generator took over. If you were going some place and the cab started to slow down the driver would stop the cab, jump out and run back and switch to the other generator. He would then open the spent generator and recharge it. I do not know what material he used. It was something solid and I think some water was added.

The railroad passenger cars looked much different to us. They were wood construction instead of steel. There was a running board on each side and you entered a compartment from the side. There was no center aisle to go from car to car. You stayed in the compartment on two seats facing each other. It reminded me of how the old west stagecoaches were arranged.

The trams, as the street cars were called, are open on the sides and there was a running board on each side. You entered from the side and had a good view as you rode. The cost for a ride was small and I think a transfer was just one pence. In the trip through town I noticed most homes had corrugated metal roofs. This was the same, regardless of how expensive a home was.

At Camp Sandy Creek the showers and latrines were outdoors just surrounded by burlap strung up. I do not recall any warm water and taking a shower on a cool breezy day was a challenge. You did not stay too long taking a shower.

We slept in our pup-tents that were all lined up in a row. We laid cardboard or what we could find on the ground then laid the blankets on top of the cardboard. Sometimes we would use a raincoat as a ground cover. It was not always warm. One time we had frost and a little ice form over night.

The Australians marveled at our Army Dental Unit that was able to set up and start filling teeth within two hours after camp was established. Now that we were overseas all mail going back home was censored by our company officers. Usually Lt. George Reed did this and sometimes the base censor also censored the letters. We could not write home much information. We could however send photos home that did not disclose any military information. I sent home some pictures of the ceremony crossing the equator. The second letter with some more of the pictures was censored and the photos returned to me. Lt. Reed enclosed a letter to mother explaining.

On June 1, 1942, new pay rates went into effect with a corporal now making $66 per month plus a 20% increase for overseas duty. That made a total of $79.20.

On June 14, 1842, I went to town with the supply Sargent to take in some dry cleaning and purchase some things for the company. We priced a small battery operated radio. The cost was about $70 in U. S. currency about twice the price of the same thing in the United States.

We were able to buy cigarettes for 6d (eight cents) a pack and there was no tax. When in town I bought a Kodak Jiffy camera on June 23, 1942. This was a folding camera with a single shutter speed and some focus adjustment 5-10 feet and 10’-infinity. It had what was called a Twindar Lens and used size 620 black and white Vericrome film. The price was 2-18-0 (2 lbs., 18 shillings, which in US currency was $9.49). It took fairly good pictures but was not as good as the camera I had in Camp Livingston. Now mother was mailing my good camera back to me.

The Australians had some double deck busses and I mentioned in a letter home dated July 5, 1942, that I had ridden on one for the first time.

On July 19, 1942, I received a letter from the office of the Chief Signal Officer concerning an appointment as a 2nd Lt. This letter said to appear for an interview May 29, 1942 in Boston. I immediately wrote back requesting an interview near the present location of the 32nd Division APO 32 San Francisco California the United States.

Lake in July we left Camp Sandy Creek in South Australia for Camp Cable located somewhere near Brisbane in Queensland. Part of the Division went by truck, the rest of us by train. The passenger coaches were wood construction with a running board along the side of the car and doors on the side to get into compartments. There were two bench seats facing each other. There no center isles in the cars so you stayed in the compartment.

In Australia there were three major rail gauges 5’-3”, 4’3 ½” and 3’6” which sometimes could mean getting off one train into another to continue in a different state. We traveled from South Australia through Victoria then when we got to the town of Albury on the border of New South Wales the rail gage changed so we got on a train on a parallel track that continued through New South Wales into Queensland.

There were no dining cars and at meal time we stopped at a large railroad station that had a big dining room with everything ready for us to eat. It reminded me of the Harvey chain of restaurants along the railroad lines years ago in the west.

Camp Cable in Queensland was not too far from Brisbane. It was located in a wooden area that did not seem to have any town within walking distance. Training there consisted of many long marches to get us in condition. I remember one nice evening we heard there was a town several miles away and some of us walked there. It was not much more than a cross roads with a tavern and a store. We were able to buy a meal, eggs, as I remember, and some warm beer from a keg sitting on the counter. Australians like that Bitumba XXX warm beer. They also had for sale, half pint bottles of apple jack. I never got to drink this brandy as it disappeared from my barracks bag when the bag was just in storage.

At Camp Cable we saw a number of wallabies which are a small variety of Kangaroo. We also saw a rather unusual bird called the kookaburra. The Australians called it the “Bushman’s Alarm clock” and some Australians referred to its call as that of a laughing jackass. The name “Bushmen’s Alarm clock” I think fitted it best, as it did serve as an alarm clock with its early morning call.

On August 23, 1942, I received my good camera mother sent along with 12 rolls of 620 film. This was the Kodak No. 1 Kodamatic I had purchased in the summer of 1941. The lens was f4.5-32 with shutter speeds 200-100-50-25-10-B-T and the focus was adjustable from 3.5’ to infinity.

On August 30, 1942, there was a memorial service for Corporal Gerald O. Cable. The first soldier in the division to lose his life as the result of enemy action.

By this time the allotment from my pay to mother was increased from $15 per month to $40 and she was getting a Class B dependency allowance of $37 per month of which $22 came from my pay and $15 from the government. That made a total of $77 per month for her support.

On September 12, 1942, I received some more forms form Washington and took the physical examination they requested in September 13 or 14 for the Signal Corps.

On Friday, September 18, 1942 we left Brisbane on a liberty ship headed for New Guinea. A liberty ship was designed for hauling cargo and to accommodate troops. A latrine was built along the starboard rail near the stern of the ship. This was a wooden trough, lined with tar paper with a continual stream of water running down it and going into the ocean.

Our field ranges were set up on deck and we ate using our mess kits and sitting any place we could find to sit. We had canvas cots in the hold. There were planks layed over the barrels below to form a floor. We thought these barrels held aviation gas as we could smell gasoline faintly. On Sunday morning Chaplin Dubbarly conducted service on the deck. I took a picture during the service and several others on the trip.

On Monday Sept. 28, 1942 we arrived at Port Moresby and then were located at Camp Maple Base near Tupulelei. It was fairly open there with few trees. Our regular kitchen fly was set up and it was regular camp life for a while.

I remember a Japanese reconnaissance plane we called “Photo Charlie” that flew over after dark on many nights. The search lights of the Australian antiaircraft battery would come on and brightly light the plane which seemed rather low as I could see each rivet in it and could plainly see the pilot wearing the leather helmet inside the canopy. The antiaircraft battery would open up after night with the same results. The Japanese pilot appeared to be not at all concerned that the antiaircraft battery was firing at him. I think I could have hit the plane by shooting at it with my 1903 bolt action Springfield but we were told not to shoot as it would give away our location. I think on the first night Photo Charlie flew over, they were burning boxes in the kitchen garbage pit. Someone grabbed a Jerry can to put out the fire but the can had gasoline instead of water and it caused quite a flare when gasoline was pored in the pit.

While at Camp Maple Base, I remember one time going to bottles inlet. There I took pictures of the coconut palms and we found a mango tree. One time we went swimming in the ocean. There were swells that were 4 feet or so high but no breaking waves. You were lifted by the swells then in the trough a rather unusual feeling.

At Maple Base there was a constant hot wind off the ocean and many flies. The flies would just circle around your head. It was sometimes a problem while eating to keep the flies out of your mouth.

If you had hot tea in your mess cup it was necessary to blow across the top of the cup then drink through your teeth to keep the flies out of your mouth. Flies would often light and drown in the hot tea.

The Red Shield which was the Australian Salvation Army gave us some writing paper and envelopes. This was very much appreciated as finding something to write on was difficult. Sometimes I wrote on paper some rations came in. I do not remember ever seeing any Red Cross representative; maybe that is why so many of us after the war were so willing to donate to the Salvation Army. It was the little things they did that we really appreciated.

Sometimes in the evening at Maple Base we would have a movie which would suddenly stop if we had “Photo Charlie” fly over. In the same letter early in Oct., I told mother I had seen Capt. Bob HARRIGER whom I knew from school days in Clare. Bob HARRIGER was stationed at the airfield near Port Morsby.

In a letter home dated Oct. 7, 1942 I said I had sent home a money order for a little over $30.00 so we must have been paid the first of Oct. In that letter I had said that before learning Australian, I sold the 50-cent radio for IL (one pound was $3.26). Other information in the letter I received a letter from Washington saying I could be interviewed for a commission as a 2nd Lt. in the Signal Corps at the forward echelon of the Signal Corps located in the Presido of San Francisco. I replied at once that I was now in New Guinea. I knew there was some interest by the Signal Corps as they had tried to contact me at each move.

We had a lot of spare time at Maple Base and we would make silver rings by tapping on the edge of a shilling to make it flare out. This took many hours then we would whittle out the inside with a jackknife. I made one for Gertie and also one for mother. It would take a couple of days to make a ring this way. The finished product looked like a wedding band except it was silver.

On Oct. 22, 1942, I wrote that we received some writing paper from the Australian Comfort Fund. They also gave us an olive drab handkerchief, hand soap, tooth paste, and a wash cloth. All these items were very much appreciated.

We had heard on the news that New York City had gone five days without meat so the military forces could have meat. We thought from the looks of things they must have all gone without corned beef those five days as we were getting it.

In many letters I mentioned the constant hot wind and the flies. It was hard to write a letter with the wind blowing and it was so hot.

The Japanese advance from Buna overland toward Port Morsby had been stopped by the Australians and the Australians were now forcing them back toward Buna. Early in October the Second Battalion of the 126th Infantry started overland from Port Morsby to join the Australian effort on a different route that was no more than a native path through the jungle and over the rugged Owen Stanley mountains. This was an area where motorized vehicles could not go. Nothing could go that could not be carried by an individual infantry soldier. The travel on foot going single file was very difficult. Any resupply was by air drop and this was hazardous.

We now knew soon the 1st Battalion of 126th Infantry would be getting into action. We were told we would travel with only a light pack, no blanket, no rain coat, not even a mess kit. We could take a spoon, a shelter half, a mosquito bar, a small bottle of quinine pills and a small bottle of iodine for treating water in the canteen. I had a small cloth pouch with a razor, extra blades, a stainless steel mirror and soap. Our extra clothing had to be left behind at Maple Base in a barracks bag.

On Sunday Nov. 8, 1942 we had an open air church service which I think everyone attended. The rest of the day we were preparing to move. We received two days canned C rations and two emergency fortified chocolate bar rations each ration was for one day.

We wore the green fatigue uniform and I carried a full cartridge belt and two extra bandoliers of ammunition and a 1903-WWI bolt action Springfield. There was a canteen and cup and a first aid packet on the cartridge belt. I also had a bayonet and a home made bush knife I had purchased before learning Australian. In my pockets I had a stub of a pencil, a small note book, a jackknife, a billfold and an olive drab handkerchief. I of course wore the steel helmet with the liner.

On the morning of Nov. 9, 1942, we went to the Wards Fields near Port Morsby. (To be continued)

THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Bulletin of the Sebewa Center Association,
JUNE 2004, Volume 39, Number 6. Sebewa Township, Ionia County, Michigan.
Submitted with written permission of Editor, Grayden D. SLOWINS:


SURNAMES: SLOWINS, GIBBS, SHERK, SCHANTZ, BREAK, GIBBS, SMITH, ENGLAND, GILLETTE, HEINTZELMAN, TAYLOR, Van HOUTEN, McNEIL, GOODEMOOT, ROBERTS, FOX, CREIGHTON, BENEDICT, COURSER, FRIEND, COMB, HALLADAY, CARPENTER, MEACHAM, MANLEY, KELLY, WALL

RECENT DEATHS:

LOUISE SMITH ENGLAND, 94, widow of Frederick ENGLAND, daughter of Dana WEBSTER & Daniel SMITH, son of Hannah GILLETTE & Laban A. SMITH, Sr. A former employee of Maynard Allen State Bank and teacher in Portland Public Schools, she retired to Cadillac, MI, & Sebring, FL, with her husband, and died in Florida. (See Vol 27, No. 3, December 1991, for extensive history of this SMITH family, who settled in Portland Township on Divine Hwy. in 1866.)

KENNETH E. HEINTZELMAN, 62, father of Kenneth HEINTZELMAN, Jr. & Lisa HEINTZELMAN, brother of David & Ronald HEINZELMAN & Sandra (KYRIL) BROWN, son of Evelyn TAYLOR & Everett HEINZELMAN, son of Harry HEINTZELMAN, son of William E. HEINZELMAN, who settled in Sebewa Township on BIPPLEY Road before 1891. Kenneth served 20 years in the U.S. Navy, was buried at BALCOM Cemetery with military honors.

MAX L. Van HOUTEN, 85, husband of Ruth BRANDSEN Van HOUTEN & widower of Reva GOODENOUGH Van HOUTEN, father of Lyle, Roy & Lee Van HOUTEN and Joan DEER, Joyce GATES & Judy SHILTON, stepfather of Karen DARLING & Marlene McKENNA, brother of Vada ROSHER, son of LaVerne Van HOUTEN & Lulu McNEIL Van HOUTEN, daughter of Milo McNEIL, son of Charles McNEIL, Sr. who settled in Sebewa Township on Clarksville Road before 1891. Max was a lifelong farmer, worked at various farm machinery dealerships, and is buried at West Sebewa Cemetery.

REX W. GOODEMOOT, 70, husband of Eunice ROBERTS GOODEMOOT, father of Pam Carpenter, Kitty LAWSON, Angie CAMPBELL, Darci SCHEIDT & Tim GOODEMOOT, brother of Helen ROBINSON, Peg FAULKER & Don GOODEMOOT, and the late Francis, Ford, Myron GOODEMOOT & Marian McDOWELL, son of Sadie FOX & Donald GOODEMOOT, son of Russell GOODEMOOT, son of Mary J. CREIGHTON & John GOODEMOOT, who settled in Sebewa Township on Clarksville Road before 1875. Rex worked for Lake Foods (Lake Odessa Canning Co.), National Crop Insurance Corp., and other Ag related businesses, and enjoyed farming and his home welding & fix-it shop. He is buried at Lakeside Cemetery.

MARJORIE ANN COURSER BENEDICT, 78, wife of John BENEDICT, mother of Deborah, Michael & Dale Marie BENEDICT & Dee Ann PRINCE, sister of Eugene COURSER & Lucy STOLT, daughter of Dale COURSER & Evelyn FRIEND, daughter of Lucy HALLADAY & Ralph FRIEND, son of Jane CARPENTER & George FRIEND, son of Polly Ann MEACHAM & John FRIEND, who settled in Sebewa Township on MUSGROVE Hwy. in 1854, son of Betty COMB & John Friend, Sr.

Marge graduated from KILMARTIN School in Orange Township & Portland High School, attended FERRIS Institute, graduated from Michigan State University, taught Art in Lowell, and was well known in the area for her own paintings. She is buried at BALCOM Cemetery.

JAMES FRANKLIN MANLEY, 82, husband of Verna M. KELLY MANLEY, father of Terri GLASS, Nancy (Joe) VERGESON, Kathy COBB & Steven MANLEY, brother of 15 deceased brothers & sisters, son of Anna L. WALL & John P. MANLEY. A U.S. Navy Veteran, Jim lived for many years on the former Rush P. BALDWIN farm on Grand River Ave. in Portland Township, was active in the Portland VFW, and is buried in West Sebewa Cemetery.

FRONT PAGE PHOTOS OF PUTMAN, CT, TOWN HALL & WILLMANTIC, CT, WINDHAM COUNTY BUILDING AND TOWN HALL.

OUR SECOND TRIP TO FLORIDA by Grayden SLOWINS:

Sunday, February 22, 2004, up at 6:30, 30 degrees and clear. To church………Turned the key in RV for first time in four months and were on the road at 2:00………to beat tomorrow’s snowstorm………there was some snow & ice on the park driveways and we needed heat all night.

Wednesday, 52 degrees……U.S. 231 to the southeast state line into Florida……saw a stock trailer with a herd of Emus in it. Later, in Starke, we saw geese in a stock trailer………registered at KOA, on our site before 5:00PM………had a nice visit with Marie STEFFEN, the oldest generation of the owner family…………she remembers we are the sheep-farmers from Michigan and even gets the name SLOWINS right…………perhaps her most important function is to make the repeat visitors feel like family. We estimate her age to be close to 80, considering the ages of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who all help in the park. Her son John & wife Debbie are the spark-plugs of the operation, with Debbie being as much in control of the inner office as any good Township or County Clerk. Grandson Matt and wife Rhonda are listed as park managers. Great-granddaughters Lindsay & Jordan are just old enough for school & preschool, but are involved too……

Friday…..to the Florida Flywheelers’ Antique Tractor Show near Ft. Meade & Avon Park. Met John & Jane COOK from MUSGROVE Hwy. Lake Odessa, MI……Case was the only steam traction engine displayed, no Rumelys nor Averys, etc and no grain separators……

Monday, March 1, 2004………I went for a walk and visited Wally GIMBEL from Ontario. He was born at Freeport, southeast of Waterloo, Ontario and his grandparents and other ancestors are buried in a cemetery on that same farm. His father was an Allis Chalmers dealer……his antique tractors are still in a new shed on the farm. Almost all land around Breslau & Martins’ Corners has been developed to houses & a Toyota factory. (His wife) Dorothy was a SHERK from the Niagara-Hamilton-Dundas-SHERKTON area. Their SHERK reunion brings people from all over North America & Europe. Wally’s mother was a SCHANTZ. He is familiar with our BREAK family homestead at Breslau, near Cressman Mennonite Church, about two & one-half miles from his birthplace, and the WENGER family homestead a little further north near St. Jacobs at Martins’ Corners, near the Martin Mennonite Church. Both their families trace back to the original Swiss Mennonite Company and we are most likely shirttail relation. Wally pronounces Breslau as Brezlau, Woolrich as Woolich, and Palmerston as Pamerston.
(To be continued)

BYRON GIBBS’ WORLD WAR II MEMOIRS CONTINUED
– November 9, 1942 – November 21, 1942:

The group I was with from Company C 126th Infantry, 32nd Division got on a C-47 at Wards Air Field near Port Moresby, New Guinea Nov. 9, 1942. Then we flew to a place I do not know and landed on a newly prepared jungle landing strip. As I recall the pilot said during the flight that he had received a message on the radio a new landing area was now open and he would land there. This may have been near Pongani. When I got off the C-47 I thought it surely was the first plane to land there I remember thinking the pilot had done a good job to safely land on the short runway. I wondered if he would be able to take off and clear the trees.

We must have assembled somewhere not too far from the landing strip and started on a long single file walk. We had very limited rations. As I remember, we started with two days C rations and two emergency chocolate bar rations. Each bar was for one day and three squares. At some time we got a small cloth draw string sack of rice and one Australian ration in a tin like the old Lucky Strike flat fifty tin. This contained a package of powdered vegetable soup, a bar of compressed fruit like a plug of tobacco and a roll of milk tablets.

After a few days on the trail rations we were low. I remember at one break time on the trail someone found a squash in an abandoned native garden and whacked it up and we were eating it raw. Capt. BUSH was with us at the time and asked what we were eating. I do not remember the answer but he asked for a piece and sat there eating it with us. Raw squash is not very tasty but better than nothing.

I think right beside the trail at the location some bamboo was growing. I chopped into a section and got part of a canteen cup of clear cool water to drink.

Before we got in the really rugged country, the trial split and some ahead took the fork to the right, the group I was with continued on the left fork. I think this is where Captain Bush went on the other trail and possibly part of Company C.

As we kept on going, the hills got pretty high. These hills were actually part of the Owen Stanley Mountain Range. We would walk all day to get from the top of one hill to the top of the next one. It did not look so far to the next hill but it took all day to get to the top. We usually stopped on the top around three o’clock in the afternoon to get our evening meal cooked in our canteen cup then lay on the ground and get soaked from the rain that started every night. The only place to keep anything dry was under our helmet in the webbing of the helmet liner.

We started on the trail carrying only what was considered necessary. This was nothing we as individuals decided. There was no mess kit. We were allowed to have a spoon. I think we each had a shelter half and a mosquito bar and no extra clothes. I carried a full cartridge belt of ammunition and two extra bandoliers. There was a stub of a pencil in my pocket, a jackknife and in my pack a cloth pouch with a razor, spare blades, a stainless steel mirror and a small bottle of quinine tablets to prevent malaria and a small bottle of iodine for treating the water in the canteen. There was the canteen with the cup and the first aid packet on the cartridge belt. I wore my Benrus wrist watch in an Australian leather carrier with a snap down leather cover so the luminous dial would not be visible at night. I carried a bush knife, bayonet and a 1903 Springfield WW I bolt action rifle because as squad Corporal I was to be the rifle grenade launcher but I never had the attachment or any grenades. None of us in company C had any grenades.

It was hot and humid on the trail. At one time I remember the going was very difficult and as a Corporal I was at the very end of our squad and Company D. The heavy weapons Company was right behind. I remember feeling sorry for those fellows carrying mortar tubes, bases, machine guns, and mounts and mortar ammunition. They were at about the limit of human endurance. They wanted to stop and rest. The Company Commander said no one will fall out. He pulled his service revolver and said he would shoot anyone who fell out. I remember his face yet. His eyes were glazed and he had several days stubble of beard. I was sure at the time he meant what he said.

On these days walking single-file on the trail we had no one preparing meals for us. We each did our own cooking. I remember cooking one meal that turned out well. Part of a potato or yam was cooked in the canteen cup with some of the Australian powdered soup as seasoning. After finishing this half cup I cooked a small amount of rice over a coconut husk fire and added lemon drop I had somehow managed to save. That made some very good lemon flavored rice pudding.

It was hard to find much to eat as we were not re-supplied on the trail. Sometimes there was an abandoned village with a native garden with something edible or sometimes coconuts.

I remember one evening getting off the trail not very far, looking for something to eat and finding a banana tree with a nice bunch of short pink bananas. I had never seen pink bananas and as I was looking at the bunch a native appeared from nowhere. We had seen no natives along the trail. He said in Pidgin English words I could understand like “no”, “bad”, “no eat”. So I did not touch the bananas. I thought they might be poison. About 50 years later I saw pink bananas in a large chain grocery. The native may have been protecting his food supply rather than having any concern for my health. The little bag of rice made several meals. I was very glad to have had it.

It seemed as if we walked up one hill and then down another day after day. It may not have been as long as it seemed. When on the single file trail, we went through a number of native villages. I cannot now remember the names of any of them except Bofu. I learned sometime later, Major Boerum with our group, reached Natunga on Nov. 14, 1942.

The first evidence along the trail of the enemy was a tennis shoe. (The type with a big toe having a separate compartment.) Not long after that we got out of the hills and into fairly level country with high grass and bushes.

The 1st Battalion minus of the 126th Infantry under the command of Major Richard D. Boerum arrived at Popondetta on the Sanananda Track in the 7th Australian Division sector on November 21, 1942 and we were placed under Australian control.

The 1st Battalion minus of the 126th Infantry consists of Company D less one squad. The 3rd Platoon of Company C and the Weapons Platoon of Company C with officers Lt. J. M. Folkerstsma and Lt. Harry Richardson and some of the Battalion Headquarters. There was a total of 218 men.

In the Popondetta and Soputa area we got some air drops of canned corned beef in burlap bags kicked out of the open doors of low flying C 47s. When the bags hit the ground, they broke open and the cans went flying. Tins of biscuits were also dropped. American C rations they had found were not rugged enough to be dropped this way. They found out most cans broke open. Some of the corned beef cans broke but most seemed to just get dented up a bit. Cold corned beef in itself did not make a good meal but it was a welcome change at first.

From November 9-21, we had eaten about five days regular and emergency rations and the rest of the time a little rice and what we could find on the trail.

By this time our clothes were rather stiff from perspiration as the only washing we got was the nightly soaking by rains on the Owen Stanley Mountains. Around my waist where the cartridge belt was there were several large sores due to the constant moisture and irritation from the cartridge belt. The feet and shoes were getting in bad shape, also. I expect we got used to how we looked and probably smelled. I was still remarkably in good physical condition as were most of the others. We all had no doubt, lost considerable weight on the long walk. My weight on Nov. 30, 1942 was down to 117 pounds from the 152 pounds in South Australian on May 30, 1942.

I was impressed by the courage and stamina of the Australian soldiers in the 7th Division. Most were a little older than we were. They were for the most part men who had lived and worked outdoors. Some had been ranchers, miners, and construction workers. They were in very good physical condition in spite of the hardships and dangers they encountered in pushing the Japanese back over the Owen Stanley Mountain Range toward Buna.
(To be continued)

THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Bulletin of the Sebewa Center Association,
AUGUST 2004, Volume 40, Number 1. Sebewa Township, Ionia County, Michigan.
Submitted with written permission of Editor, Grayden D. SLOWINS:


SURNAMES: CATT, FENDER, VANDEVENTER, RICHARDSON, THOMAS, KENYON, OSMAN, CAMPBELL, FULLER, UNDERHILL, HILL, SLOWINS, WENGER, SLOWINSKI, LICH, WENGER, HUNT, SHAY, BAUER, GIBBS

RECENT DEATHS:

HAZEL MAY CATT FENDER VANDEVENTER RICHARDSON, 87, mother of Kay FENDER MEYERS, sister of LeRoy & Glendon (Pete) CATT, daughter of Bessa THOMAS & Orvin CATT, son of George CATT, who settled on BIPPLEY Road in Odessa Township before the Civil War. Hazel worked at Maynard-Allen Bank in Portland and served as Sebewa Township Treasurer. Her farm is on CASSEL Road in Sebewa.

HENRY NATHAN KENYON, 84, husband of Hilda OSMAN KENYON, father of Norma Jean DIETZ, Sharon Kay BUTTS, Max & Larry KENYON, brother of Edward KENYON and the late Mildred IVES, son of Roxanna CAMPBELL & Nathan Henry KENYON, son of Mary FULLER & Henry Nathan KENYON, son of Susanna UNDERHILL & Nathan Henry KENYON, son of Elizabeth HILL & Randall KENYON, son of Susannah & Barnabas KENYON, a Revolutionary War Soldier from New York State. The family came to Holland, MI, about 1866, when Henry’s grandfather was age 12, and to Sebewa Township on EMORY Road, on what is now Mrs. Floyd CARROL’S farm, about 1914, after a few years in Sunfield, and two years after Nathan & Roxanna were married. Henry was a farmer on PETRIE Road in Sebewa and an animal caretaker at Michigan State Health Department. Buried in East Sebewa.

FRONT PAGE PHOTOS OF:
Van Buren County Courthouse, Paw Paw, MI; Claire Allen, Architect, 1901
Cass County Courthouse, Cassopolis, MI; Rush, Bowman & Rush, Architects, 1899

OUR FLORIDA TRIP CONTINUED by Grayden SLOWINS:

Friday, March 5, 2004; 61 degrees & sunny, with a high today of 90 degrees. Tiny chameleons, also called geckos or eastern fence lizards, are everywhere outside. They are cute & harmless……

March 10…….Visited Vera LICH and her sister from Washington State………The Willard KENYONS are one of several familiar Lake Odessa couples she mentioned in the church………John & Neil LICH and the kids originally built an A-frame home on their 40 acres, which included part of the lake. They acquired the land thru their mentors Walter & Mary Jane WENGER HUNT, muck farmers of Sebewa & Clarksville, MI. It was an orange grove until frost killed the trees………we once jokingly talked of taking the sheep in a semi to pasture in that orchard for the winter and returning with them in time for spring lambing.

March 11………After lunch I went for a walk and stopped to tell Wally about my SHAY Locomotive Tee-shirt. He was familiar with that engine and its bevel-gear drive principles, but didn’t know about the name & life of Ephriam SHAY from Sebewa Township, MI.

March 12……Florida Antique Engine Show………Grandpa Dan SLOWINSKI owned an IHC Titan engine & a Port Huron grain separator………Our neighbor Alfred BAUER, with whom I worked, owned a Rumely Oil-Pull & a Red River Special grain separator……A Mennonite couple who had once been Old Order Amish were from our ancestral home area in Lancaster County, PA. BAUER, with whom I worked, owned a Rumely Oil-Pull & a Red River Special grain separator.
(To be continued)

BYRON GIBBS’ WORLD WAR II MEMOIRS CONTINUED
– Nov. 21, 1942-January 13, 1943:

From an area near Soputa we carried supplies forward at night and then we were behind the Australians who were in contact with the Japanese. We were in this area for a day or so. The fellows had been warned not to smoke early in the morning as the rising smoke would give away their location. I remember one group on the left of the trial smoking early in the morning and the Japanese put a mortar shell right to the location.

As we moved up in the Australian position, we passed several Australians who had a Japanese tightly tied with field telephone wire and laying in what appeared to be a shallow grave. They had a pistol pointed at his head and were trying to get him to talk. We were told he was a Major captured wearing his sword and trying to climb a tree. The Japanese apparently understood English but was not willing to talk. Whatever happened to him I do not know. I do not recall hearing any pistol shots in this area.

The first Japanese casualty I saw was a young marine in a clean fatigue uniform. They said he was shot attempting to cut a field telephone wire.

On Thanksgiving Day November 26, 1942 we had orders to take over forward positions from the Australians. The 3rd Platoon of Company C was the only infantry platoon under Major Boerums Command. We were it. I remember eating part of a can of cold corned beef as we started to move up. This was my only meal that day. I, as Corporal, was in command of our squad as Sargent Weber was sick. Our squad was on the right side of the trail advancing as skirmishers to make a frontal attack. We were, I thought, the right flank unit. Lt. Folkerstsma, our platoon leader, was on the trail somewhere to my left. I am not sure on which side of the trail.

As we moved ahead the vines and underbrush were so thick the going was probably slower for us than those on our left. We got up nearly to a cleared spot when all of the firing started. There was a tree just ahead slightly to the right of me and the Japanese machine gun was hitting it and spraying me with sap and splinters. I could not see where the machine gun was but I thought it must be close ahead a little to my left. A soldier knows little of what is happening except what he can see and hear. That was not much under the conditions there at that time.

There was a foot path a little to my left and fifteen or twenty feet ahead a Japanese squad came down the path. There was a fallen tree that had to be stepped over and as the first Japanese stepped over and shot him. The next one did not look down and I shot him. He dropped on the far side of the fallen tree. With only five shots in my clip, I wondered if I could get another clip in fast enough. The rest of the Japanese squad must have gotten in where the machine gun was. The machine gun was on my left and I guessed less than twenty feet ahead.

One of our soldiers to my left and somewhat ahead crawled back after the firing let up. The side of his face was covered with blood and he was bleeding badly from a flesh wound in his left temple just above his ear. He was very frightened. I told him the wound was not serious. I put a compress on the wound with the contents of his first aid packet to stop the flow of blood then cut his pack strap with my jackknife. The bullet had lodged in his shoulder and was visible. I removed the bullet and started him crawling back in the direction of the Bn Cp along the foot path. In getting the pack cut off I broke the blade on my jackknife. I still have the jackknife and blade and somewhere the bullet. The soldier’s last name, I think, was MINOR.

When the firing stopped the Japanese kept racking back the bolt on their machine gun either because of jam or possibly hoping we would fire and give away our location. I had no cover but there were ferns about a foot or so high that gave some concealment. In the prone position the machine gun bullets must have gone a little above me. I found a bullet had hit my bayonet and bent the ring so it would not fit on my 1903 Springfield.

Lake in the afternoon I could hear someone chopping ahead. I finally determined the sound was directly in line with a leaf on a bush not far ahead. It was quiet. There was no firing. I sighted carefully on the leaf and squeezed off a shot. The chopping suddenly stopped. After a while the chopping started again but this time at some distance.

That night I could see the moon up through the trees and wondered if mother and Gertie were looking at the same moon. I could see well enough to look at their pictures in my billfold. After that time I felt rather resigned with the feeling we were not going to get out of this and I was ready to go.

After dark I found out that Lt. Folkerstsma had been killed. A new 2nd Lt. was sent up to replace him. Later during the night Major Boerum sent word to the Lt. for us to pull back which we did early in the morning. Contacting all of the squad was not easy but we had been together so long we knew each ones whispered words. After the pull back the new 2nd Lt. remembered he left his matches up ahead and wanted me to go up and see if I could find them for him. I said “Here you can have mine, matches are not that important.”

In the morning the new Lt. went toward the rear and did not return. I assume he was relieved of command. By that time I thought there were no Sargents left and I was the only Corporal left.

Later, Major Boerum sent word for me to come to the Bn Cp. He told me to take command of the platoon and reorganize it and appoint a platoon Sargent. I was a Corporal at the time and all the other NCOs apparently had been casualties. I appointed PFC Barber as platoon Sargent.

Major Boerum told me not to send out any patrol without orders from him personally as all patrols so far had gained no useful information, just resulted in casualties.

To start reorganization of the platoon, I made a list of those we still had and found there were several soldiers that had been attached to the platoon from some other unit. They had been placed on our right. One of these attached soldiers had been shot in the jaw earlier when mistaken for the enemy. With attached soldiers we had about 30 still available in the platoon with every squad leader now being a private first class.

The next day a messenger said Major Boerum wanted to see me at the C.P. I thought ‘Oh! Oh! He wants me to take out a patrol’. When I got to the C.P. Major Boerum had a smile on his face, some change from the worried expression of a day before. He told me he got a call on the field phone that I was to be promoted to 2nd Lt. and was to return to base HQ to await orders. He said the message came from the War Department by radio then by field phone to him. He said I could stay as an officer with the company. I said I thought I had better follow the War Department order, but I would stay overnight with the unit so he could get someone to replace me.

The next morning I went back to the Bn CP and there got the home addresses of several to let their folks know they were all right. None of us had been able to write letters or receive any for about a month. I got the address of Marjorie PITTS from Lt. Richardson, the address of Major Boerum’s wife and from Don “Pony” MOORE his home address also the home address of several others.

I left the extra ammunition I had at the BnCP but kept a clip or two and my 1903 Springfield for the walk back. The forward Regimental Headquarters was not so far back on the trail. I must have looked pretty dirty and probably smelly. They told me to go to the river and wash before they would talk to me. This I was glad to do and put the wet clothes back on and the clothes dried in the hot sun as I wore them.

At forward Regimental Headquarters they gave me a typed copy of the message they received and told me to walk following the trail back past Soputa to where there was now a landing strip, I think Popondetta. I could get on a plane there and go back to Regimental Rear Headquarters at Camp Maple Base near Port Morsby.

I started walking on the trail and soon found some Australians with tea and biscuits just off the trail. With a little to eat I started walking again and shortly met a group of young Australian National Guards. They looked as if they were about done in from the heat. They asked if I had seen any of their “blokes”. I told them they are just around the next bend making tea. They took off then. The thought of tea and biscuits gave them renewed energy.

Finally a Jeep came by loaded with wounded headed in the same direction I was. I kept on walking and soon I heard a noise off in the brush like someone walking slowly. My first thought was it was a Japanese patrol. I had my 1903 bolt action Springfield with an extra clip or two of ammunition and I got off the trail as quietly as possible and layed flat, knowing alone I was no match for a Japanese patrol. After what seemed like the longest time, a wild boar came out of the brush. This was a relief. I laid there for a while to let the wild boar get out of sight.I then started walking on and a Jeep with some wounded came going my way. The driver told me to hop on as they had some room.

A plane landed in the afternoon with mail and supplies. I got on it to fly back to Regimental Rear.

I arrived at Camp Maple Base in time for supper in the officers’ mess. This was just a tent fly but it seemed good to set down at a table and eat off a plate with a knife and fork. It was my first real meal in a long time.

Someone got me some clothes and shoes. Mine were in bad shape. Lt. Col. Hendricks gave me the oath of office and a 2nd Lt. bar. Another officer gave me the crossed rifle infantry insignia. I was commissioned in the Signal Corps however. This was on November 30, 1942. At this time I just weighed 117 pounds. I had weighed 152 pounds May 30, 1942 in Australia. I think everyone who had been in Co. C must have lost quite a little weight.

With my enlisted discharge I received the final pay of $28.86 on December 1. That was the cash received after the allotment sent to my mother and the deduction of $6.70 for government life insurance.

The sketchy orders I had were by radio and gave instructions to wait for orders coming by courier from the War Department to Base Headquarters in Brisbane.

There was no immediate transportation to Australia. I had some time to get my barracks bag with my camera in it. There was also extra film and exposed film taken since we left Australia in September. Some undeveloped film had pictures taken on the Liberty Ship going to New Guinea. After Sept. 18th and some film had pictures taken in October in New Guinea.

It had been nearly a month since I had been able to write letters. I wanted to let my mother and girlfiend know that I was all right and I heard there was a commercial radio telegraph office in Port Moresby. On Dec. 2nd the radio operator there sent the messages which could not say much due to censorship. The messages to mother and Gertie said that I was well and had been promoted and expected to leave soon. Seasons greetings and love.

That day I wrote letters to mother and Gertie telling them I was well, had been promoted to 2nd Lt. and expected to return to the states soon.

The time waiting for transportation was spent in writing letters and resting up. A letter I wrote to Gertie said that on Dec. 6th Regimental Rear Headquarters had their delayed Thanksgiving Dinner.

The menu was grape juice, tomato juice, fresh whipped potatoes, candied sweet yams, rich brown gravy, Virginia baked ham with raisin sauce, warm buttered peas, pickles, olives, candy, mince pie, pumpkin pie, cheddar cheese, bread, butter, coffee. I presume this must have been on a printed menu. However, I have not located it.

On December 10 there was a flight to Brisbane taking General Waldron who had been wounded. There was room for me on this. While in Brisbane orders arrived that I was to return to the states for duty at Fort Monmouth by the first available water transportation. While in Brisbane waiting I had been able to secure my other barracks bag from which they had removed everything except some letters and pictures. All clothing had been removed except for a very few items.

A boat was to leave from Townsville and vouchers to pay for a hotel there and meals. The commercial airliner was a DC-2 which only seated 14 passengers. There were only six or so on it, military, Red Cross, etc. We landed at Rockhampton to refuel. The airfield there had no buildings except a small metal shed for fuel storage. They had a card table setup and we had lunch of cheese sandwiches and tea.

When we landed in Townsville there was military transportation that got me to the downtown hotel where I could stay and eat using the government vouchers to cover the cost.

I was able, while there, to buy some souvenirs and film but I was rather short of cash as my final enlisted pay in New Guinea was $28.86. I spent part of that in Brisbane. What was left would have to last until I got paid in the United States.

On December 18, 1942, eight days after getting back to Australia I boarded the Dutch freighter, Paelau Laut, at Townsville. At the time I was coming down with the malaria fever and could hardly make it up the gang plank. The freighter was loaded with brown sugar and had an Indonesian crew with Dutch ship’s officers. I was very sick by Dec. 24th – 26th and just remembered being in the bunk and with the ship’s movement I would roll and hit the boards on each side of the bunk. The transportation surgeon, 1st Lt. Cecil A. JOHNSON, Medical Corps on the USAT “Poelau Laut” in his letter of 26 Dec. 1942 to the Medical Officer in charge of my permanent station stated I had been treated for recurrent malaria fever from 19 Dec. 1942 to 26 Dec. 1942 and he recommended a continued course of Atabrine at my permanent station.

There were not many returning officers on the boat, as I recall less than a dozen. One of the returning officers was a Signal Corps officer nicknamed “Sparks” who had worked for McKay Radio at one time. We would sit on deck and could hear faintly the beep-beep, code come in on the ship’s wireless. “Sparks” would give us a running report on the world news. He said the code signals were to him like another language. He told how he got his job with McKay Radio during the depression of the 1930s. He said he had walked in their outer offices in New York City and sat there with a number of other applicants who were also looking for a job. He heard the code faintly with the music on the speaker in the office. The code said for the next applicant to come in. He got up and walked to the inner office where he was hired. He was alert and heard the faint code message over the music. None of the other applicants had heard the message.

The crossing of the Pacific was peaceful and enjoyable after recovering from the malaria attack. The few of us who were passengers ate in the dining area with the Captain and the ships officers. The meals were excellent. We were all glad to see San Francisco Harbor when we arrived on January 13, 1943.
(To be continued)

THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Bulletin of the Sebewa Center Association,
OCTOBER 2004, Volume 40, Number 2. Sebewa Township, Ionia County, Michigan.
Submitted with written permission of Editor, Grayden D. SLOWINS:

SURNAMES: SLOWINS, ROBERTS, DIVINE, GIBBS

FRONT PAGE PHOTOS OF: Florida Flywheelers Antique Engine & Tractor Show, Fort Meade, FL.

OUR FLORIDA TRIP CONCLUDED:

Sunday, March 14, (2004); 47 degrees on a sunny morning, high of 81. Attended church & coffee time in camp, walked to Western Steakhouse for buffet………While I was gone for a walk, Director Susie ARMBRUSTER called Ann with updates on the Ionia Presbyterian Choir………

Monday, March 15, 40 degrees & quickly became hot, muggy, rainy 79 degrees. Visited Wally & walked in the park while Ann wrote letters & entered genealogy on the computer. Wally quit farming at the end of 2000, before his 70th birthday in June 2001……I sold the last sheep in January 2002, a few days before my 70th birthday………Called Ken CARR and won’t call again until we get home.

Tuesday, March 16: Yesterday we met a couple who were always swimming or sunning by the pool. Ann asked about their flag flown below the Stars & Stripes. It was a white cross on red and as we suspected, it was Swiss. They have been coming here for four years………They are from Canton Bern, near Eggiwil, (SWITZERLAND). He was originally from Groningen near Interlaken and she from a mountain Canton in the northeast, where they speak Romence, the closest thing to a true Swiss dialect. She also speaks French, English, and the Swiss-German. The kids also have to learn book-German in school, for writing papers, etc.

Told her about my ancestors from Wengen & Eggiwil, and our visit to Interlaken, Wengen, & Wenger Alp in 1989.

Thursday, March 18………Guy ROBERTS joined the conversation. Born at the east end of REEDER Road, south of Ionia, he attended Lyons-Muir Schools until age 16, then spent over 20 years in the US Navy. After various jack-of-all-trades repair & mechanical service jobs, he now lives & works part-time here in the park…..He is a first cousin to Mark, Jerry, Terry, Resa &others, who grew up on the Chester DIVINE farm on DIVINE Hwy. in Portland Township. He was a childhood acquaintance of Clement FEDEWA & was telling people about Clem winning the lottery, buying his daughter a new car, himself a new pickup………then planning to keep on farming until it was all gone – but he died first.

Thursday, March 25: ………reached Louisville. Wisteria is a vigorous twining vine whose woody stems become several inches thick and bear blue-purple (lilac) flowers in dense drooping clusters, seen along the roads in the South. Yesterday we saw farmers tilling & planting crops in north Florida and one field had corn up………Also new strawberry beds set out on ridges with paper strips between. Rye was heading out & being pastured by cattle in Alabama. Good stands of wheat. Pastures thru-out the South are native grasses, not legumes, and are still short.

One irrigated field was being cut & blown into big trucks for haylage. Forsythia is in blossom at Milepost #0 in Tennessee. Tennessee farmland is better than in Kentucky………Milepost #2…….Lawns need mowing and daffodils are out along the roadsides. Shorn sheep with lambs in pasture………

Friday, March 26, 62 degrees at Louisville and 65 degrees when we reached home. Sprinkles in night and mostly overcast. Up 6:00 AM, home by 4:00 PM, warm & pleasant. Drove thru hard rain all thru Indiana. Home to sunshine & soft wet ground with the frost all out. Mileage going to Starke was 1193. Mileage in Florida was 528. Mileage coming home was 1187. Total trip 2908. Final reading 27233.

Starke Florida KOA is our second home and the residents are our extended family. We have groceries, clothing, hardward, videos, restaurants & library all within walking distance………Also new strawberry beds set out on ridges with paper strips between. Rye was heading out & being pastured by cattle in Alabama. Good stands of wheat. Pastures thru-out the South are native grasses, not legumes, and are still short.

One irrigated field was being cut & blown into big trucks for haylage. Forsythia is in blossom at Milepost #0 in Tennessee. Tennessee farmland is better than in Kentucky………Milepost #2…….Lawns need mowing and daffodils are out along the roadsides. Shorn sheep with lambs in pasture.

BYRON GIBBS’ WORLD WAR II MEMOIRS CONTINUED
- Jan 13, 1943-December 31, 1943:

As soon as I could on January 13, 1943, I sent a wire to mother and also to Gertie to say I was back in San Francisco. I wrote Gertie a letter the same day saying her wish has now come true. I was in the Signal Corps and no longer in the Infantry. I had a room in the Hostess House at Fort Mason close to all the offices and the post exchange. I got my first months pay as a 2nd Lt. of $150 plus the 10% ($15) overseas allowance and my initial uniform allowance of $150. I spent $125 of that immediately at the post exchange for an officer’s uniform and insignia.

I was able to get a 10-day leave granted by the San Francisco Port of Embarkation. (Special Order #15 par 7, Jan. 15, 1943.) On Jan. 18 I sent a wire to Gertie and one to mother from Chicago saying that I would be home Tues., Jan. 19, 1943 for 10 days. It was wonderful to be home and to be with Gertie but the time went very fast.

On Jan. 29, 1943, I arrived at Fort Monmouth at 8:00 in the evening. The next day I was settled and assigned to Co. F 802 Signal Training Regiment, Ft. Monmouth, Red Bank, NJ. The OBMT Unite (Officers Basic Military Training Unit) I was assigned to was composed of all officers commissioned directly from civilian life, mostly electrical engineers or telephone specialists. This was to be basic training in how to march, pitch pup tents, wear the uniform, customs of the service and how to salute and etc.

We would drill each day in our fatigues. Then at meal time fall out and go to our barracks and change to class A uniform for lunch in the mess hall, then back to the barracks and change to fatigue uniform to fall out when the whistle blew for formation. This was easy for me. I could change and lace up the leggings in a hurry. It was such a hassle for some of the officers to change uniforms and then lace the leggings back up that they would not go to lunch and still they were slow getting out the formation.

One day when the unit fell out for formation, the commander ‘Iron Lung’ McClung said to the unit. He could not figure out how GIBBS could take his time eating lunch then leisurely walk to the orderly room and pick up his mail and go to the barracks; then when the whistle blows to fall in, he is the first one out of the barracks properly dressed in fatigues with his field equipment.

Drill plus the training was long hours. Many times we were up before daylight for drill and classes, then evening classes till after dark. On Feb. 3 we were on the range firing pistols and Tommy Guns. It rained all day and we were soaked and it was cold. I got a bad cold as a result.

On Feb. 12, 1943, I had a physical exam that shows that I am fit for full duty. At this time I was taking Atabrine instead of quinine.

On Sunday, February 14, we were on the rifle range near the ocean by Sea Girt from five in the morning till six in the evening. It was very cold and windy. The temperature was 9 degrees. This was the first and only time I ever had water freeze in my canteen. The canvas canteen carrier on the cartridge belt was padded for insulation. At the end of the day my face was red and wind-burned.

We completed the basic course and on Feb. 20, 1943, I moved to 8 E Santander Apartment, A.P. Area, Ft. Monmouth, Red Bank, NJ. This was in the Asbury Park area where we were now in the Company Officers General Course from Feb. 22, 1943 – April 2, 1943. Classes were in Convention Hall, Asbury Park and the mess hall was in the Marine Grill on the Ocean Beach. Quite often however we would have lunch in a little Greek restaurant in Convention Hall. We would ask the owner what pies he had for desert, just to hear his reply. He would say Opple and PineOpple (I have written it the way he would say it).

During the Company Officers Course we were up at six had eight hours in class then studied till 11 P.M. On March 13 we took the AGC test and my score was 137. The top classification was 130+. Our entire class average was 127. This was very high but to be expected from this group.

Late in March I did not feel well. I thought it was malaria again. I went on sick call and the young medical officer was rather arrogant. He said there was no malaria fever in New Jersey and I was just trying to get out of duty. This made me rather angry. A short time later at the Santander Apartments I passed out. I do not know how I got to the hospital March 24, but I think by ambulance. The doctors there did not know what was wrong. I was about half conscious part of the time in the ward. Then they finally put me in a separate room alone. They must have thought I had something contagious. I would sometime come to but I would be alone in the little room. Then one day I was conscious when a young nurse came in. I told her I knew I had malaria fever. She must have convinced a doctor as they gave me fluid in the veins. In a short time I felt normal and they took me back to the ward. The fellows there could not believe my recovery. They said they thought I was dying. I was finally discharged April 8. The doctor gave me no quinine then to take. He said the army did not give medication after release from the hospital.

The order for those in the Company Officers Course had been to report April 3 to Harvard University. I was not released from the hospital until April 8 so I had to get to Harvard as soon as possible. I did get there the same day I got out of the hospital April 8. I took the train to New York City, then had to take the subway to another train station. I was fortunate in that I did not get lost. I was however concerned when going on the subway. At Harvard the Electronic Training Group had a five-day head start so there was a lot to make up in the intense training course. This was at the Graduate School of Engineering. It was mainly an electrical communication refresher course that was very intense with classes nine hours a day with about four hours additional study each night. I had secured a room in the home of Mrs. Shane at 25 Wendell St. about three blocks from Harvard University in Cambridge. It was a 3rd floor room with the view out of my window being an apartment building fairly close. Not touch but fairly close. One other officer, Lt. Clarence CONRAD, also had a room in the house. We ate in one of the restaurants nearby that was frequented by students.

The subway entrance at Harvard Square made a trip to Boston across the Charles River very easy. Stops on the subway at Washington Street and Scully Square were near the historic sections of Boston. We did not have much time for sightseeing except on Sundays. During the week with classes nine hours a day and then study in my room till about 11:00 P.M., I was ready to sleep. The classes in Pierce Hall continued till the end of April then we were to have classes in Cruft Lab.

On April 25, 1943, I bought a 10” K & E Log Log Decitrig slide rule at the Harvard University book store. This was the standard for use in engineering calculation at the time. This was before there were pocket scientific calculators or personal computers.

On April 30, I started running a fever and having chills. I knew it was a recurrent attack of malaria fever. I wanted to get it treated immediately so I took the subway from Harvard Square over to Boston and to the 1st Service Command Hospital. There, a Navy Ensign Medical Doctor who was familiar with malaria started me taking quinine. I was in the hospital for five days but allowed to go on a pass to get my books for study. At the time I was released on May 6, I was to take 10 grains of quinine day for eight weeks. The Ensign said to take one tablet a day till they were all gone. He said this was against policy to take medication after leaving the hospital but that was the only way this would ever clear up. I think the large bottle of tablets he gave me contained one thousand tablets.

From May 6, I was in the Cruft Laboratory at Harvard. We were now getting some very warm days and I ordered a new summer blouse, trousers and hat. We were now in school three nights a week until 10:00. The laboratory was in the second basement below ground level. Part of the work was here and part in a classroom.

On Sunday, May 30, I went to Boston with Lt. Jankowski. There, we went to the Old North Church. At that time we were allowed to go up in the tower where the lanterns were shown for Paul Revere to start his ride. From there you could see the Charleston Harbor, Bunker Hill, and the nearby home of Paul Revere.

The interior of the Old North Church was just like it was in colonial days. The church had no heat in the winter and those that came to church brought their own warmers and wore heavy clothes. The pews were in sections with partitions part way up. The minister had a high pulpit where he could be seen. I noticed one of the sections had a brass plate with the name GIBBS. I expect this may have been one of my ancestors.

At the first of June, I mailed home my pay check of $147.95 for May. Base pay at the time was $150 per month plus $60 rental allowance plus $43.40 subsistence for 31 days with a dependent making the total $253.40. Deductions were insurance $6.70, war bond deduction $18.75, allotment to mother $80.00, leaving the check I received $147.95.

By June 5, 1943, the new summer blouse, trousers and hat arrived. I was glad to get this uniform as the orders to change to summer uniform specified June 2 so for three days I had only cotton shirts and wash pants to wear.

On June 18, I received the Knight Radio that mother sent. This was the radio I had on my desk at college in 1935. It seemed good to have a radio again I could listen to. In the evenings, I studied at the desk in my room until I would have to stop and rest for a while. Sometimes I would walk to the neighborhood tavern about a block and a half away and listened to the juke box for a while before going back to the room to study. The most played record on the juke box as I remember was the Mills Brothers singing ‘Paper Doll’.

On Sunday afternoon, June 19, I went up to Gloucester on the bus to see the fishing boats and lobster boats. It was a pleasant change. I remember the statue there to the men who go down to the sea in ships.

About this time the postal department started adding a number after the name of a town. It is now, Cambridge 38, Mass. This is the forerunner of the Zip Code.

July 4, 1943 was a quiet Sunday. I had written mother, that I received a prayer book from the “Clare High School Hustlers”. In that letter I said we were now studying things that were completely out of the range of possibilities when I went to school.

On Sunday afternoon, July 11, 1943, Lt. Conrad and I took the subway from Harvard Square to Boston and up to Revere Beach. We never saw so many people on a beach. It was solid people as far as you could see. A newspaper reporter we got to talking with there said they estimated 90,000 people were there.

Each week-end I tried to see some of the historic places. On July 18, it was Lexington. There we saw some of the carefully preserved bullet holes in homes from the Revolutionary War. We visited Buckman Tavern that was kept as it was during the Revolution.

On July 27, we finished the final exam at Cruft Lab at Harvard and did not have to be back until the morning of August 2 to start in the Radar School at M.I.T.

I left by train for home. It was a short trip as I arrived back in Cambridge on Sunday evening August 1, so at best I was probably home two and a fraction days. This trip was a last minute decision when I found out I could get there and back on time. I was sure glad to see Gertie even for a short time.

The classes at Massachusetts Institute of Technology were not on the campus but in Boston in a building across the street from Griffins Wharf where the Boston Tea Party took place. Classes here were conducted around the clock. Sometimes I was on the night shift. The area near the water front did not have any desirable places to eat at the night lunch break. There were a lot of unsavory characters in that area at night but usually there were several officers together and no one bothered us. I never had much of an appetite eating in those all night places.
To be Continued.

THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Bulletin of the Sebewa Center Association,
DECEMBER 2004, Volume 40, Number 3. Sebewa Township, Ionia County, Michigan.
Submitted with written permission of Editor, Grayden D. SLOWINS:


SURNAMES: WEAVER, DUSO, ZELLER, PLINE, KEENEY, SLOWINS, LEIK, FOGEL, ALDRICH, MORRIS, LEPARD, LIVINGSTON, LONG, STALTER, MOTE, NASH, DARBY, OST, GROFF, BROVONT, O’MARA, GROFF, BJORK, FLANIGAN, BATES, DEMARAY, NURENBERG, SWILER, CARTER, THUMA, RUDD, KYSER, SMITH, MEYERS, GIERMAN, GIBBS

RECENT DEATH:

JOSEPH EDWARD WEAVER, 81, brother of Thomas & Bernie WEAVER, Norine ZELLER, Clara PLINE, Edna KEENEY and the late Charles & Ruth Ann WEAVER, son of Ed & Sylvia DUSO WEAVER. Joe graduated from S.S. Peter & Paul High School in 1940, served in the US Army in Germany in WWII. He began working at Berger Motor Sales at age 16, while still in high school, and worked there 65 years, counting his three years in the Army. He worked up to salesman and made the title of car salesman an honorable profession. He worked for five generations of Bergers and changed diapers on the last three – Ned Jr., Brett, and Briana. His last years he mostly made trips to Secretary of State and Post Office and shuttled cars between dealers. But for a few of us special long time customers who still stopped in to visit, he continued to sell cars, and we bought two cars and two pickups from him in his last 25 years. Joe is buried at Mt. Olivet.

OLD BARNS WITH RACK LIFTERS by Grayden SLOWINS: (With FRONT PAGE PHOTOS of ALDRICH-HEALY BARN & GROFF-BJORK BARN)

Sunday, July 18, 2004, Charles LEIK, George FOGEL, and Grayden SLOWINS set out on a tour of old barns, specifically those equipped with rack lifters.

FIRST and in best condition was the Huron HEALY barn one mile west of Lake Odessa on the south side of M-50/TUPPER Lake Road in Sec. 32 Odessa Township. This was the Frank ALDRICH farm in 1906 – about the age of the barn. This is a gambrel roofed, bank barn. The rack lifter is still fully roped and ready to use.

These devices called rack lifters used poles under each end to raise the entire wagon rack loaded with loose hay to the top of the barn. This was accomplished by means of a large wooden pulley, six to eight feet in diameter, with a wooden axle thirty two feet long.

Mechanical advantage allowed a team of horses to pull the load up easily. As the one-inch rope unwound from the large pulley, the two-inch ropes from the four corners of the rack wound up the axle and lifted the load. An ingenious ratchet brake & trip rope prevented the load from dropping unintended, yet near-perfect balance allowed the empty rack to be lowered and guided.

The first load was pitched off by hand and leveled off to cushion the mow floor. Thereafter one, two, or three layers of sling-like ropes were layered across the rack as the hay was loaded. Unlike true hay-slings, these ropes were not a woven web, but a simple loop with both ends fastened to iron rings on the mow side of the load and the center of the rope looped to the opposite side. The rings could then be hooked on wooden pegs in the crossbeam at the purlin plate level. The loop was pulled up & over by horses to dump that layer of hay and repeated for each layer. It took less height to dump than true hay-slings, allowing more space for hay.

THE SECOND BARN was on the west side of JACKSON Road at the railroad tracks, Sec. 24 CAMPBELL Township. Now owned by Frederick MORRIS & Son, it belongs to Oscar E. LEPARD when built in 1905, according to faint lettering above the double drive floor doors, and after that by Hale LEPARD into the 1960s. The roof & beams & foundation are good on this gambrel roofed bank barn, and it is salvageable if the south siding and drive doors are replaced soon. The rack lifter is no longer fully roped, but most of the wood parts seem to be in good shape.

THE THIRD BARN was around the corner on the north side of CAMPBELL Road, on land owned by R. LIVINGSTON today and by George LONG in 1906. This bank barn is falling down and the rack lifter is protruding into the weather.

THE FOURTH BARN, about a mile further west in Sec. 23, is a nice T-shaped, gambrel roofed, bank barn, with a rack lifter. Today it is apparently owned by Phillip STALTER, but no one was home and we didn’t go into the barn. It was owned by E. MOTE in 1906 and then Calvin NASH kept it well-cared-for into the 1960s.

THE FIFTH BARN we visited was around the corner to the south on the east side of DARBY Road in Sec. 26 Campbell, and is now owned by Burton & Sandra LEPARD and by his father, Forrest LEPARD, before them. Because the barn was once let go for a long time before replacing the roof & flooring & some siding, this once & again great gambrel roofed barn shows some signs of decay in the beams & roof boards.

Burton LEPARD relayed good information from his late father and thinks the designer/builder of all these lifters clustered within a 3-5 mile radius lived right here among the LEPARDS – but probably was not a LEPARD or BURTON would have heard stories about him.

SIXTH & SEVENTH BARNS are on the next farms south of Burton LEPARD on both sides of the road. Ruth & the late Lawrence O’MARA on the west side in Sec. 27 salvaged their lifter when a windstorm took the top off their barn. This was the R. DARBY farm in 1906 and later was owned by D. J. BROVONT. The farm & barn across the road are owned by Kenneth OST, but the occupants of the house resist visitors. This place was owned by Hy GROFF in 1906, son of the owner at that time of the next farm we visited.

THE EIGHTH BARN and one with a lot of oral history is a mile and a half further south at the corner of DARBY & VEDDER Roads. Both sides are owned by Vernon BJORK since 1939 – 65 years. The farm now includes the Old German Baptist or Dunkard (Tunker) Church & grounds, which reverted to the farm from which it was donated by the original owner, Samuel GROFF, before 1875.

On the west side of the road sits a majestic T-shaped, gambrel roofed, bank barn, with double drive floors and almost intact lifter wheel & axle & poles, plus some of the ropes.

Vern is 84 and had talked to the GROFF family. He thinks perhaps the BROVONT family, who lived among these barns and ran a saw mill, may have been the designers/builders of the rack lifters right along with the barns. We know it was common practice for barn-building to own a sawmill and contract to build barns from standing timber at that time. More barns once in the CAMPBELL Corners area had lifters, perhaps two dozen in all, and we may have missed some still existing today. We set out to see two or three, found nine, and actually entered six.

OUR NINTH & FINAL visit was to a BARN twelve miles away on Coats Grove Road in Sec. 34 Woodland Township. Owned by Janice BATES FLANIGAN & the late Roger FLANIGAN, it is far enough away from the others to be a copy of the idea but not exactly the same design. It has two large pulley wheels that lift both ends of the wagon separately but simultaneously, with the pulleys & 32 foot axles & poles hooked to the same team of horses, with an easier pull due to greater mechanical advantage. That part of the idea is good, but the pulley wheels were a poorer design that could have ropes jumping over the side and tangling. Three days later Ann & I went back to get more photos and found Amish carpenters replacing some barn siding & doors, to go with the good metal roof & solid foundations to preserve for posterity.
We also found a rack lifter in good condition, except for the two-inch ropes, in our Sebewa neighbor’s barn – Ed DEMARAY in 1906 and Bill NURENBERG now.

See accompanying photos to understand the workings of rack lifters. See also Charles LEIK’S old barn website for many more barns & information on rack lifters at <the_barnjournal.org>. As far as we could tell, all of these barns were gambrel roofed, bank barns, although a couple were partially destroyed. Some may have been raised from a gable to a gambrel roof at the time of installing the rack lifter, to gain maneuvering room as well as more hay storage. However, most barns & lifters seemed to have been built as a team.

The descendants of Harold SWILER think B. F. (Ben) CARTER brought this idea for rack lifters from Michigan Agricultural College (MAC). Ben graduated there around 1900 and long worked for the Michigan Department of Agriculture. He and his father, Z. W. CARTER, had farms on both sides of AINSWORTH Road, north side of BIPPLEY Road, in Odessa Township. The west side now belongs to the SWILER family and the rack lifter is still in their barn. There was also a water tank in the barn grade, filled by the windmill and using gravity flow to supply water in the barn to cool milk and water livestock. END

SPECIAL MEETING OF MEMBERS OF THE SEBEWA CENTER ASSOCIATION was held on October 23, 2004, after proper notification by mail. The following actions were taken:

(1) New officers were elected – Paul THUMA, President, Janet GIERMAN RUDD, Vice President, Sharon HUNT KYSER, Secretary/Treasurer, Bertha SMITH, Trustee, Lucille MEYERS, Trustee.

(2) The Association voted to donate the building and land to Sebewa Township.

(3) The final vote was to dissolve the Association thirty (30) days after the paperwork is completed on the property transfer.

In order to clear the books and bank account, the Sec./Treas. will make refund checks to those who are paid beyond the current year – meaning July 1, 2005. The remaining funds in the bank account will then be donated toward replacing the water well which is shared by the School Association, the Township, and the nearby church. We can no longer accept checks in the name of the Sebewa Center Association.

NEW BEGINNINGS in February 2005: The SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR will be mailed free of charge to everyone who has been receiving it. If you no longer care to receive it, please notify us, to save our family the costs of printing and postage. If you care to help with the postage, that is okay, too.

The SEBEWA CENTER SCHOOL, an ivory brick building with red brick trim, was completed December 15, 1882, at a final cost of $1,206.03 paid in full by Andrew M. RALSTON, district treasurer.

It replaced a wood-frame building located one mile east, which in turn replaced a log school across the road to the south of the second building. The brick school closed in April 1965 and the Association was formed August 12, 1965, under the leadership of Robert Wilfred GIERMAN, to preserve the building for use of the community.

On April 21, 1967, it was struck by a tornado, which tore off the front wall, the belfry, and a portion of the roof. With his spirit and energy, the building was restored and the bell was mounted at ground level on an I-beam frame. A couple reunions and a wedding or two were held there, as well as an annual combination ice cream social and birthday party for R. W. GIERMAN from his 75th thru 86th birthdays. Also a 4-H Sewing Club met there for a few years. After his death about its only use came two or three times every two years, when I swept out the dead flies and mice and coon spit, so we could operate the township voting machines there. I am researching back issues for a list of former teachers and perhaps several lists of students at various times.

BRYON GIBBS’ WORLD WAR II MEMOIRS CONTINUED:

We studied radar theory and equipment. All of our books and notes were classified and nothing left the school. So there was no studying to do after leaving school. If additional study was necessary, I went back to the school after the shift.

We studied antennas and the patterns they put out. I remember one problem in connection with this. We had a reconnaissance photo of a Japanese radar installation on an island and we had to calculate the antenna pattern and determine the altitude our planes would have to be at different approach distances from the target to avoid detection.

Many days we would be in school from 7:30 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. After that I was glad to get to my room to sleep. We had very little free time.

On Saturday, August 14, I went with Lt. Ellsworth Fletcher to look at a car that had been parked behind an apartment building in Boston. It had been there for some time as weeds were growing up around it. The car was a 1936 Plymouth and he later found it had been sitting there since the owner died. The owner’s wife could not drive and offered to sell it for $20.00. Lt. Fletcher bought it and after putting about $50.00 in repairs in it, was able to drive it to Florida with his wife Scotty and two young children, Johnny and Jane at the end of October when the M.I.T. course was completed.

Near the end of August, I had determined there would be no income tax to pay for 1943. My taxable income as a 2nd Lt. was $1800.00. There was a military exemption of $1500.00 plus a personal exemption of $628.00 and a $420.00 exemption for a dependent.

I September 1943, Winston CHURCHILL spoke at Harvard. I went down there but could only see the crowd through the fence from the street at Harvard Square. About the time I applied for a ration book as I was not on an army post. The book had stamps for everything but shoes I think.

At Harvard, there is the University Museum with the Ware Collection of the most beautiful glass flowers created by two men Leopold and Rudolph BLASCHKA in the 1800s. They are so life like it is hard to believe they are not real. This was really worth seeing.

One day in Boston, I remember going to lunch at Jacob WIRTH, 31-37 Stuart Street not far from Boston Commons at the Boylston Street exit from Tremont Street Line. This was an old German place that was established in 1868. There was sawdust on the floor and big German waiters wearing white aprons and having a gold watch chain draping from their vest pockets. The German lunches were excellent.

In September I bought a foot locker as I knew there would be a change of station near the end of October and I needed something to ship my things in.

Late in September we went on an inspection trip to see Radar in use up in Maine. This was on September 29, I believe. The commander of the radar unit was a Michigan Tech graduate I had
played in the band with while at Tech. The radar station was looking for aircraft or ships offshore and submarines if they surfaced.

So many of the historic places in Boston are located so close together that the easiest way to get around is taking a walking tour or riding the subway or the bus. I did not get to see some interesting places. One of the things I missed was Durgin-Park Restaurant which is at 30 North Market Street about a block from Faneuil Hall. In 1962 I took Gertie and Louise there. As we walked down the street, Gertie said we are not eating in this area are we and sort of had her nose up. They were unloading beef halves nearby and there was trash in the gutter. Then entrance to Durgin-Park Restaurant is a set of stairs going to the 2nd floor. As we stood there a chauffeured limousine drove up and several women in fur jackets got out and stood in line at the bottom of the stairs. This rather changed Gertie’s opinion. She was now ready to get in line. Everyone sat at long tables with a red and white gingham table cloth in the second floor dining area. There were no reservations. The movie stars, diplomats, the working people and all sat at long tables. The lights were bare bulbs on cords hanging from the tin ceiling. The kitchen was in the center of the dining area and the noise there and clatter was unbelievable.

The food was excellent. When we left, the cash was taken at the table. There was no cash register. It had always been that way. This place had been a restaurant since before the Revolutionary War, famous for its New England favorite foods. It had been the favorite of Theodore Roosevelt. It was a favorite of Franklin D. Roosevelt when he was a student at Harvard and also of his sons. This place was also a favorite of John F. Kennedy when he was a student at Harvard. No one gets a reservation. Many have asked and all have been denied; movie stars, kings, and the very wealthy. Everyone stands in line on the steps. This is a place to be remembered.

By mid-October 1943, we knew we would be finished at M.I.T. by the end of October and then be assigned to Camp Murphy in Florida near West Palm Beach. Camp Murphy is no longer there. It is now the Jonathan Dickinson State Park about 20 miles north of West Palm Beach and about 6 miles north of Juniper on U.S. 1.

I know our orders would read we could travel by auto which meant we would be expected to travel only 200 miles per day and there would probably not be a reporting date on the orders. So I wrote mother to have my 1940 Ford Deluxe, two door sedan tuned up and checked over so I could drive it and see what gasoline ration I could get when traveling under military orders.

I shipped home my two foot lockers and bought a Pullman ticket for Detroit to leave Saturday evening October 30 on the 7:00 P.M. train. At Detroit, I got a bus that arrived in Clare, Sunday night at 10:30. This made it possible for me to be home Nov. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and part of Nov. 6. The orders I received on the last day at Cambridge authorized a five-day delay in route. (S.O. 132 P.I., Army Electronics Training Center 30 October 1943.)

Late in the day November 6, I drove as far as Charlotte, Michigan and stayed with Uncle Earn and Aunt Min. The next day I drove as far as Lexington, Ky. Where I stayed the night of Nov. 7. I then drove through Berea, Ky. And past the Boon Tavern Hotel on Highway 25. This was before there was highway 75 going south. The next night of Nov. 8, I was in Cartersville, GA. The drive through Kentucky and Tennessee was through some pretty hilly country. By Nov. 9, I was in Jacksonville, FL. Then on Nov. 10, in Stuart, FL. It was late and I was tired. The next morning, Nov. 11, the drive to Camp Murphy was less than 20 miles South.

I mentioned Boon Tavern Hotel in Berea, Ky. Because it is a small town hotel like hotels used to be with the beautiful dining room that looked out on the town square to the college campus. Through the years this hotel which is run by Berea College has been my favorite stopping place.

At Camp Murphy, my room at the Officers Club had an iron cot, clothes rack, a bare light bulb, no chair, no table. The meals at the Officers Club were good and the cost was only $1.50 per day.

I was assigned to the Signal Corps Replacement Pool. The training at Camp Murphy was on airborne radar equipment and I. I. F. equipment. This was a transmitter in a plane triggered by radar to send a signal so that our forces would identify our plane so it would not be shot down by our own forces.

We also worked on some early t.v. equipment. There was a t.v. guided bomb and a bomb controlled by trailing wires. The Germans were experimenting with the same thing and sank an Allied Troop Ship in the Mediterranean with these type bombs. The information on this was not released until after the war, I believe.

All was not study and hard work. Willie Hoppe, the billiard champion, was in the Officers Club one night in mid November. I was never a billiard player but his playing was something worth watching.

By mid-November, I had a B gas ration book for 12 gallons per month plus the A book. Half the day, I was in class and the other half day giving enlisted men basic training. When on the afternoon shift I was on duty from 1:45 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. The last half of the shift from 6:30 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. was in the class room. When on this shift I had the choice of breakfast after 12:30 a.m. or in the morning.

On Nov. 29, 1943, I had this Monday off because of working all day Sunday. I went to West Palm Beach and to Hope Sound where a freighter had run aground a week or so before and it was still burning. I was talking to Lt. Ellsworth Fletcher that day and he told me he had driven the 1936 Plymouth he bought in Boston for $20.00 to Florida with his wife Scotty and children Johnny and Jane with no trouble at all.

It was not always warm in Florida. On the night of Dec. 21, 1943, I had several wool blankets on the cot and it was still a bit cool.

On Friday, Dec. 24, I went to Juno Beach with the intention of going in the ocean for a swim but the surf was much too high. The water was knee deep and over head high. This was no day to go swimming.

As the year ended, I was preparing to give a one-half hour talk to the officers at Camp Murphy on Australia and New Guinea. I had some slides made to show from the many photos taken overseas.

JANUARY 1, 1944 – DECEMBER 31, 1944:
I started off the New Year doing something different. On New Years Day we went deep sea fishing on a charter boat with Lt. Harold Engleman, his wife, Lt. Clinton Congdon, Lt. Bernard Jankowski, and Lt. Ray Ragsdale. We all caught at least one fish but the 2 ½ foot long Kingfish I caught was the only edible fish. This was given to Lt. Engleman as he had his family in Florida with him.

On Jan. 2, I gave the talk on Australia and New Guinea in the afternoon at the theater to the officers in Camp Murphy. Earlier in the day I had given the talk to my class. A number of the officers were in New Guinea then the Philippines within a year.

It was cool in January and it felt rather good wearing a field jacket. At the school in addition to the work on radar I was practicing again on code and passed the eight words a minute test. Most of the day I was working, repairing equipment. Being able to get at the source of the trouble and repair it quickly was something that I was able to do.

Near the end of January 1944, four of us officers went to Boca Raton and flew out over the Caribbean and the Keys on submarine patrol. We were in a bomber in a darkened compartment looking at a t.v. screen. We could see all the numerous sunken ships in the area we flew over. The regular crew knew the location of the old wrecks so they could easily tell if something underwater was a submarine. It if was a surface ship the pilot could visually see it. The equipment worked on the principle that any underwater metal object concentrated the lines of magnetic force of the earth. The image on the t.v. screen showed the size and shape of the boat under the water. Hitler, about this time in a foreign news source was quoted as saying the failure of the German U boats was attributed to recently developed allied detection equipment. There was no comment at all from our government. I wondered if this equipment that so accurately located submarines was what Hitler meant.

The first of Feb., I went swimming several times in the ocean off Jupiter Island directly across from Camp Murphy. We could take the small boat ferry over to the island for 10 cents a round trip.

By Feb. 14, 1944, the regular schools had finished and I was busy reading unpublished war reports and writing about some of the equipment how it works and why it works. A change of station was coming soon. On Feb. 21, I was at Lake Park to see Lt. Fletcher and then washed and waxed the car and went swimming. Now I knew I would be going to Arlington, VA, and started packing the car.

On March 2, 1944, I left Camp Murphy headed for Arlington, VA. I was granted a 10-day leave of absence as of March 3. I had time to go home but not enough gas so I went directly to Arlington, VA. Then went by bus to Clare. The 10-day leave went by fast. It was hard to say goodby to Gertie and take the bus back to Washington. It was sad looking out of the bus window and seeing her as the bus pulled out. I arrived in Washington on the bus March 14 at 10:30 p.m. The following day I had a room at the home of Mrs. Pace at 3215 Columbus Pike, Arlington, VA. About a mile from Arlington Hall Station where I was assigned to the Signal Corps Advanced Rad Comm. Sch.

My change of station orders were Special Order 41 par. 1, Army Service Forces, Office of the Signal Officer, Washington, 26 Feb. 1944. The 10-day leave of absence as of March 3 was granted on Special Order 52 par. 20, Army Service Forces, Southern Signal Corps Schools, Camp Murphy, Florida, 1 March 1944.

Being stationed close to Washington I knew would give me an opportunity to see many places of interest on any free time I would have. There was a Capital, Library of Congress, Smithsonian Museum, Arlington National Cemetery, Mount Vernon and many other places. We soon found out the Washington area was full of high-ranking army officers and a 2nd Lt. with one gold bar was an oddity. Many times I would be asked what rank the single gold bar was.

On Sunday, March 19, 1944, I went to the Pentagon, which was about a mile from where I roomed, to look up Lt. Clarence Conrad, who I had been with at Harvard and roomed in the same house there. I was rather surprised to be able to locate him in that big building.

A few days later, I was able to go to the Post Exchange at Ft. Myer in the evening. The PX there was well stocked with many scarce items. There was plenty of gum, candy and film. I bought a small seven jewel travel alarm clock there. The place was quite crowded. I saw General George Marshall there with two of his grandchildren.

I had the address of Miss Marjorie PITTS, who was the girlfriend of Lt. Harry Richardson (by that time Captain) of Co. C, my old Infantry Unit. She taught in the High School in Arlington and roomed in North Arlington. I phoned her and went to see her one evening to see the pictures Harry had sent and the scrapbook she had prepared with new items and pictures.

On Sunday, March 26, I walked around the Capital in Washington and went to the Library of Congress. There I saw a photo copy of the Declaration of Independence. The original was removed for safe keeping during the war. I was surprised to learn that the Library of Congress had 169 miles of book shelves. On that same Sunday I saw the Washington Monument, Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.

Around Washington I had to wear a blouse all the time and dry cleaning was necessary. I had to hunt up a cleaner that would clean things while you waited.

On Tuesday, April 4, I had written mother that I had been on active duty for three years. That meant a 5% raise in pay that amounted to $7.50 so now the base pay would be $157.50 per month.My roommate in Arlington was Lt. Dick KEMPER. He had a cousin Mrs. Doris BROWN who lived in Alexandria with her little boy Jimmy and her sister, Louise. To be continued

THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Newsletter from Sebewa
FEBRUARY 2005, Volume 40, Number 4. Sebewa Township, Ionia County, MI.
Submitted with written permission of Editor Grayden D. SLOWINS:


SURNAMES: WILSON, AINSWORTH, PEACOCK, DOWNING, COX, JOY, BAIRD, KLAHN, VELTE, RUDD, LIVERTON, SLATER, WHITER, MULHOLLAND, BRAKE, BROWN, VanDeVELDE, BAUM, STALTER, SNYDER, INGALLS, CLEVELAND, LOCKE, STEGENGA, FROST, SMITH, GILLETTE, THOMPSON, GATES, ATWATER, MORRIS, PATERSON, HALLADAY, DAVID, SHAY, JARMAN, ICE, CONKRITE, HULL, LEIK, GIBBS

RECENT DEATHS:

ROSE E. WILSON AINSWORTH, 90, widow of Winfield AINSWORTH, mother of Linda CURVEY, Ann Lee DECENT, Sarah AINSWORTH and Lorna CARNEY, sister of Joyce LUSCHER, Carol CASSEL and the late Keith & Royal WILSON, daughter of Ella PEACOCK & Victor WILSON, son of Arthur WILSON, whose family settled in Sec. 1 & 2 Sebewa Township on PETRIE Road, between KNOX Road & Clarksville Road, on land now owned by Richard HEYBOER, Frank FANDEL, Jr. and Betty ELDRIDGE, before 1891, and he on YORK Road Sec. 11 by 1906.

Ella PEACOCK WILSON was a daughter of Catherine E. DOWNING & Benjamin Calvin PEACOCK who settled in Sebewa Township in 1865, son of Benjamin PEACOCK, Sr., son of Ruth COX & John JOY PEACOCK, Sr., son of Anna JOY & Abraham PEACOCK. Catherine E. DOWNING was a daughter of Elizabeth BAIRD & Samuel DOWNING, who also settled in Sebewa in 1865.

Rose graduated from Ionia County Normal in 1933 and taught in country schools for three years before her marriage to Winfield. After his untimely death in 1954, she taught twenty-two more years, the last fourteen in second grade of Woodland Elementary, Lakewood Schools. In retirement she traveled the U. S. and read a lot.  Buried in Lakeside Cemetery.

CARL JOHN KLAHN, 81, widower of Phylene HARPER, whose family once owned the Zeno LEAK and Max VanHOUTEN farms on MUSGROVE Highway in Sebewa Township, husband of Mary SMITH KLAHN, father of Roger KLAHN, Shirley COURTNEY & Janice HEYBOER, son of Cora VELTE & Howard KLAHN, son of John KLAHN, whose family emigrated from Prussia to BOWNE Township, Kent County, MI, about 1865 and was one of the early families of the BOWNE Mennonite Church. Carl was stepfather to Diane Adams, Ionia County Register of Deeds, and nephew to soon-to-be Centenarian, Geraldine KLAHN. Carl was a retired farmer, wood-craftsman, and world traveler.  Buried at Lakeside Cemetery.

ELJIE M. (JACK) RUDD, 101, widower of Alice STEWART and Mary SCHEIERN, father of Leon (Janet GIERMAN) RUDD, Janice SHIELDS, Joy BUTCHER, and Karen MORROW, stepfather of Mary KLAHN, Ruth INGRAHAM, Irma SMITH, Elsie VOORHEIS, and the late Harold SCHEIERN, Joe SCHEIERN, Eunice RITZ, and Janet LOWER, brother of his birth twin Elsie RUDD and other deceased siblings Ethel WALTER, Montie RUDD & Clinton RUDD, son of Charles RUDD & Anna LIVERTON RUDD, who was one of the eight niece heirs of fabled farmer-capitalist, George LIVERTON, as was Ora WALKINGTON’S mother-in-law.

A lifelong farmer, Jack also worked for West Shore Construction Co. building US-16, now called Grand River Avenue, at Mitchell-Bentley Corporation, and for Berlin Township as Letts Cemetery Sexton. Buried in Letts Cemetery.

FORREST W. SLATER, 91, husband of Esther, father of Marian DUITS, Norma ROSE, David, Fred and Darell SLATER, brother of Richard SLATER and the late Mable McCAUL, Phoebe GEIGER, Mary McCAUL, Carl, Roy and Keith SLATER, son of Rose WHITER & Berton SLATER, son of Clara MULHOLLAND & Peter SLATER, who settled on THOMPSON Road in CAMPBELL Township on what was later the John F. BRAKE farm and now the Dale ZOOK llama farm, in 1872. Forrest served in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1933, then became a lifelong farmer, as well as a truck driver and truck repairman for Ionia County Road Commission, carpenter and maintenance person for Lakewood Schools. Buried at Lakeside.

BERNADINE BROWN VanDeVELDE BAUM STALTER, 82, widow of Lloyd (Stub) STALTER, former wife of Charles L. VanDeVELDE and James BAUM, mother of Charles (Mick) VanDeVELDE, Monte BAUM, Jon STALTER and the late Curtiss BAUM, sister of the late George BROWN, daughter of Mary Snyder & Walter BROWN, son of Fred E. BROWN, son of James H. BROWN, son of Sarah (Sally) INGALLS & John BROWN, who were Sebewa’s first settlers at SE ¼ Sec. 24 Sebewa Township on KEEFER Highway just north of MUSGROVE Highway in 1838. Mary SNYDER was the granddaughter of Dr. George WASHINGTON SNYDER, Civil War Veteran.

Sally INGALLS was the daughter of Abigail CLEVELAND & Jonathan INGALLS, Sebewa’s only Revolutionary War Veteran and one of only three buried in Ionia County and one in Kent County, son of Hannah LOCKE & Jonathan INGALLS, Sr. Bernadine is buried at Lakeside Cemetery.

JACK C. STEGENGA, 69, husband of Laura, father of Mike & Bill STEGENGA of Portland and Beth STIFFLER on Clarksville Road in Sebewa Township, brother of Ellen WINCHESTER, Jean BARRUS and Evelyn HAUETER, son of Conrad STEGENGA & Harriett FROST, daughter of Charles FROST & Harriett SMITH, daughter of Hannah GILLETTE & Laban A. SMITH, Sr., who settled in Portland Township, on DIVINE Highway at GOODWIN Road, in 1866, son of Lucy THOMPSON & Marvin SMITH, son of Lydia GATES & Benjamin SMITH, son of Hannah ATWATER & Daniel SMITH, son of Anna MORRIS & Samuel SMITH, son of Elizabeth PATERSON & Thomas SMITH, who were married in New Haven, Connecticut in 1662.

Jack was a lifelong farmer on the family homestead, served in the US Army, retired from TRW after 36 years. Buried in Portland Cemetery.

HALLADAY SCHOOL: Cover photo of students of in 1923:
Back row: (Teacher), Kendall RHEAM, Claude MILLER, Bernice HALE, Frances LIPPINCOTT, Reva SKINKLE, Leona MILLER, Fern WALKER.
Next row: Beatrice HALE, Sarah SMITH, Gladys BUMP, Edythe PETRIE, C. Louise JESSUP, Norma LIPPINCOTT
Second row: Allene LIPPINCOTT, Katheryn KARTUSKI, Pauline RHEAM, Ruth PETRIE, Lillian BIDWELL, Ruth WISE.
Front row: Kenneth Haskins, Jessie WISE, Harold BUMP, Ronald FIRST, George MILLER, Gerald BUMP, Alzeo SMITH, Myrwood RHEAM.

1925/1927? Photo on page 3, of HALLADAY SCHOOL STUDENTS:
Back row: Jessie WISE, Harold BUMP, Claud MILLER, Kenneth HASKINS, Frances LIPPINCOTT, Miss HOFFMAN (Teacher), Leone MILLER, Reva SKINKLE, Edith PETRIE.
Next row: Fern WALKER, Clara L. JESSUP, Gladys BUMP, Norma LIPPINCOTT, Ruth WISE, Myrwood RHEAM, Alzeo SMITH, Allene LIPPINCOTT, Pauline RHEAM.
Second row: Duane RHEAM, Leo KARTUSKI (CARR), Dennis PETRIE, Ronald FIRST, Ruth PETRIE, Robert FIRST, Loberta EVERETT, Maxine EVERETT, Virginia STAMBAUGH, Katheryn KARTUSKI, Esper EVERETT, George Miller.

Corrections? If you have corrections on the identifications in the above photos or if you have other stories about HALLADAY School, please write them down and send them to the Editor of this publication.

STORIES ABOUT HALLADAY SCHOOL by Grayden SLOWINS & Others:

On the cover of this issue we have a school photo from HALLADAY School, loaned to us by the daughters of Alzeo (Mike) SMITH; Alice BERENS, Margaret TROYER and Mary KLEINFELT. Thoughts of this school first bring to mind a chance encounter we had some years ago.

Evelyn LICH DAVID and I were attending the Annual Educational Conference of the Michigan Townships Association (MTA) at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dearborn about 1983. Each morning a few of us farm boy & girls would rise early to do the chores and hed down to the lobby café for a hearty farmer’s breakfast, not one of those high carbohydrate, low protein “Continental Breakfasts”! By change Evie & I spotted a large, gray-bearded man about my age sitting by himself at a table and asked if we could join him. “Sure thing!” he replied, and then the standard greeting at these affairs, in some variation of the following, “Hi, I’m Theron Parker, Supervisor of Haring Township, near Cadillac. Where are you from and what office do you hold?”

We gave our names, “Evie DAVID – Supervisor, Grayden SLOWINS – Clerk, Sebewa Township, Ionia County and I know Haring Township!” I went on to ask “are you familiar with the story of Ephraim SHAY, the man who founded Haring, owned the sawmill, general store & post office and invented a steam locomotive adapted to logging and mining on rough terrain?”

“Well, I know about Ephraim SHAY and his unusual steam locomotive, although I hadn’t realized he founded the town too. The building he built as a general store and post office was only recently town down. The upstairs had always been our Town Hall and public meeting room. Many people in the community were married and buried from that hall. But no-one seemed interested in my suggestion to form a historical society and make that building into a museum, when we built a new, barrier-free hall. But how do you know about Ephraim SHAY and Haring Township?”

“Because before Haring, he founded a similar sawmill town called SHAYTOWN a few miles south of us in Sunfield Township. It too had his general store-post office-Odd Fellow hall building that has just about fallen into the ground.

“Before that he spent his upper-teen and young-adult years in Sebewa Township. He worked in Theodore GUNN’S sawmill, studied the stationery steam engine and had visions of making it self-propelled. He lived first on a forty-acre farm at Sebewa Center with his mother & siblings, then married and bought an eighty a mile west, where he also served as Sebewa Township Clerk.”

“Well, I know about Sebewa! I went to school there two years. Back in the Great Depression times were extra tough in the poor, sandy farmland around Haring. Dad made a few extra bucks as a horse trader. Mother was a school teacher, but couldn’t find a school to teach. She wrote to the State School Superintendent and he put her in touch with the HALLADAY School Board. She taught the HALLADAY School two years.

There were ten of us kids. The seven oldest stayed on the farm with Dad. Us three youngest came to Sebewa with Mother and lived in a rented farmhouse. I can’t remember what house it was nor who owned it. We got home once in a while on weekends or Dad would come down. I was the oldest of the three younger kids and I started school there. The only other kids I can remember were from a big family, very poor, named JARVIS, I think.”

“JARMAN, maybe?”

“That’s it. JARMAN. Years later, after World War II, we seven brothers had a spray painting rig and painted barns in Ionia County and all over Michigan. Big white stars on the barn doors were our trademarks. One Saturday night I was driving up M-66 and picked up a hitchhiker. It was Bob JARMAN, who had been in my class in first and second grades.” END OF CONVERSATION

In more recent years, a father & son team, George & Mark ICE, has acquired Ephraim SHAY’S farm in Haring Township, built a replica of his first locomotive and begun to rebuild his trackage, so they can give tourists rides through the woods and countryside like Ephraim did after the timber ran out. Since they are in the wrecker & iron salvage business over on US-131, they have both the materials and the talents for reconstructing Ephraim’s prototype, which they will also display at the annual “Ephraim SHAY Days” at Harbor Springs.

In Sebewa, Phoebe SHAY owned the forty acres surrounding Sebewa Center School, near her brothers Benjamin PROBASCO, Sr., and Ephraim PROBASCO, and other family members. Ephraim SHAY’S farm was forty acres on the northeast corner and forty acres on the southeast corner of BIPPLEY Road & KIMMEL Road, now owned by Ilene CARR. Ephraim’s engine, as we have often explained, had helical (tapered) gears on the drive wheels which were directly driven by matching gears on the engine crank shaft extension. All wheels under the engine and even under the tender were drive wheels, thus giving the engine extreme drive power and traction for its size, plus short turning radius for uneven temporary tracks, due to universal joints in the drive shaft. The prototype was simply an upright boiler mounted on a small flatcar, with the piston-driven crankshaft geared directly to the wheels.

In a recent letter about Sebewa Corners and HALLADAY School, one of Alzeo SMITH’s daughters mentioned they were related to Fern CONKRITE, our longtime friend & history consultant who passed away in 1999 at age 104. Her father was Charles CONKRITE and his brother was Manley CONKRITE, who was great-grandfather to the SMITH girls. So her grandparents, William CONKRITE & Calphernia HULL, earliest settlers just south of Charlotte Highway Bridge in Danby Township, were there great-great-grandparents. William died young, leaving a large family, who were by that time located around to the southwest on TUPPER Lake Road, between Wellfare Road & MURTHA Road, where Keith MERRYFIELD lives now, near where Manley had his farm on the southeast corner of TUPPER Lake and BROWN Roads.

CHARLES LEIK UPDATE: The proper internet website for The Barn
Journal is <thebarnjournal.org>

BYRON GIBBS’ WORLD WAR II MEMOIRS CONTINUED:

Mrs. BROWN’S husband was an officer in the Signal Corps stationed in Africa. We would frequently go to Alexandria on Sundays, and mow the lawn, put up screens and do other jobs in exchange for a home cooked meal.

On Sunday, April 30, we went to Washington to see the boats in the marina there. Due to the housing shortage many people were living on their boats with connection for power and telephone. There was one rather large boat owned by a Dow Chemical executive. The engineer invited us aboard to see the boat.

On Sunday, May 7, 1944, I took Lt. Ralph CLANTON, his wife and his little girl, Lt. Clarence CONRAD and Lt. Dick KEMPER down to Mt. Vernon. That made a very pleasant weekend. That night when we got back to Arlington we had the first black out we had so far.

It was now getting rather warm and we changed to summer uniforms May 15. The next weekend I went to Alexandria and had dinner with Louise BAUGHMAN and her sister Mrs. BROWN. Louise was working for Pen Central Airlines in reservations. The lawn needed mowing and there were some minor repairs to do.

On Sunday, June 11, 1944, I went to the Smithsonian Museum. I spent too much time looking at the electrical exhibits and I missed many other things. I did see the Spirit of St. Louis suspended there. It seemed smaller than I thought it was. The museum closed at 4:00 on Sunday so I had to leave. I did see in an outside display of some enemy planes for a bond drive. The German plane motors were very well made. The German planes had all been damaged though. The only undamaged plane was a Japanese Zero that looked like new, but it had the U.S. insignia on it.

When I arrived at Arlington Hall Station, I had secret clearance but work there requiring cryptographic top secret Diplomatic Clearance. Until this was obtained, I spent my time on the top floor of the girls’ school working on correspondence courses on cryptography. It was a surprise when I found I was able to decipher a German message without a good working knowledge of the language.

There was only one kind of cipher equipment any one person was to know. I first worked with voice scrambling equipment for use with the telephone. At the end of the training the entire team was sent to England except me. I was then in the manufacture and service of a much more complicated piece of equipment. All girls worked on the assembly. They would receive instructions to solder one wire, then return the part, pick up another one with different instructions to solder one wire. To work on this equipment we had to know every part, how it worked and memorize all the part numbers. After I left there, all service information was in my head. There were no books or drawings to refer to.

Some sections at Arlington Hall were involved in deciphering foreign messages. Many of these girls were experts. Some seemed rather odd but they were geniuses.

On June 16, 1944, I moved to Vint Hill Farms Station with their long range radio antennas. This was near Washington roughly 40 miles from Arlington and past where the first battle of Bull Run in the Civil War took place and near Manassas Junction. Where initially I shared a three-room apartment with Lt. Lunceford GILLENTINE and Lt. Leonard LONG.

Vint Hill Farms Station was rather isolated on weekends and when possible, I along with most of the others would go into the Arlington, Washington, and Alexandria areas where there was much more to see.

By the end of July, we knew we would be going back to Arlington Hall Station sometime in August. Now there were about 30 officers living at the Officers’ Club at Vint Hill. My comment in a letter home was that it reminded me of a fraternity house.

On August 19, 1944, we received orders back to Arlington Hall Station and I was able to room again at 3215 Columbia Pike. I knew the stay here would be short. On August 22, 1944, I found out I would be going to Camp Crowder, MO for assignment to a unit. The orders dated August 23, 1944 showed the assignment as 3168 Signal Service Bn. To report Aug. 30, 1944, with no leave en route. Camp Crowder was 1150 miles by the most direct route or 1550 miles if I went by going to my home in Clare.

This was an additional 400 miles. I decided to try it even if I could only be home a day or two to see Gertie and mother. On August 24, 1944, I sent a wire from east Liverpool, Ohio at 1:25 p.m. saying I would get to Clare that night. After two full days at home, I left for Camp Crowder the morning of August 27 and stopped long enough in Charlotte to say hello to my Uncle Earn and Aunt Min and then got as far as Effingham, IL that night. The following night, Aug. 28, I got to Springfield, MO. Then I arrived at Camp Crowder on August 29, 1944. I had been a little concerned about gasoline but I had plenty.

There was a portion of the 3168 Sig. Sv. Bn. At Camp Crowder but not the portion I was to be assigned to. Until this got straightened out, I was assigned to a unit and as the newest officer I became the weekend duty officer. I remember Sunday morning, Sept. 3, 1944, having to go to the stockade and get a soldier who had been picked up Saturday night by the MPs.

I saw Lt. Dick KEMPER, who I had roomed with at one time in Arlington and went to supper with him at the Officers’ Club. That evening, I found out that the portion of the 3168 Sig. Sv. Bn. I was to have been assigned to was in Camp Kohler, California. Another officer I had been with at Vint Hill also had come to Camp Crowder as I had but also should have gone to Camp Kohler, California.

A Teletype from the Seventh Service Command in Omaha, Nebraska dated 30 August, corrected the error and directed us to report to Camp Kohler Sept. 7. Camp Crowder however would not release anyone until they had gone through the gas chamber, gone through the infiltration course, thrown a live grenade, qualified with the carbine on the rifle range and cleared with 14 offices on the post. It was Sept. 5, 1944 before I got the final release.

Lt. GILLENTINE and I left in my 1940 Ford and got to Oklahoma City that night. We had decided to drive long days at first then go slower when we go to places in the west we wanted to see.

The following night, Sept. 6, 1944, we were in Tucumcari, NM. The next night we stayed in Gallup, NM. Sept. 7, 1944, at the El Rancho Hotel and Court. The following day, Sept. 8, we saw the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest and stayed that night at Cameron, AZ. about 50 miles from the Grand Canyon. Sept. 9 we saw the Grand Canyon and Lake Mead. That night Sept. 9, 1944 we stayed in Boulder City. On Sunday, Sept. 10, 1944 we drove on the highway that crosses Bolder Dam in a convoy. The speed limit was 20 miles per hour across the dam and no one was allowed to stop. That evening we went to Las Vegas, Nevada for supper. They seemed to have all the scarce items in the stores. There were slot machines in many stores.

We then drove across the desert country at night and got as far as a little town somewhat north of Bakersfield, California, where we stayed Sept. 10. A front tire blew out in that town but I was able to buy a new one because we were traveling on government orders. It took some hours of red tape to get the tire though.

The next evening, Sept. 11, 1944, we stayed in a cabin at the Sequioa National Park and sat around the campfire there for a couple of hours. Here we had driven through a large redwood log. I had my camera on this trip and took a good many pictures. I noted in a letter to mother that I was writing by the light of a Kerosene lamp and there was no electricity in the cabin.

On Sept. 12 and 13 we stayed at Yosemite National Park. This was a beautiful place. I remember the famous photographs Ansel Adams had a studio there and I purchased one of his beautiful black and white photographs of El Captain which I sent to mother. At night they had a bonfire of redwood bark up on Glacier Point and the Forest Ranger shouted up “let the fire fall” and they pushed the embers over the edge and it looked like a waterfall only glowing embers.

This ended our wonderful sightseeing trip and we arrived on Sept. 14, 1944 at Camp Kohler. When we started, we were not sure of the location of Camp Kohler but we found out it was between Sacramento and Roseville about 25 miles from Auburn.

My first impression of Camp Kohler was that it was a rapidly constructed temporary camp. Most of the buildings were covered with black tar paper. There did not seem to be much shade and it was hot and sandy.

We got tetanus and typhoid shots and we were on the submachine gun range on Saturday Sept. 15. I did well firing expert on my first try. We also had to fire the bazooka to see how it functioned.

After being on the range all day in the bright sun and blowing sand, we were loaded on an open army truck and hurriedly returned to come for an eye examination. I was at the back of the truck and the first one off into the darkened room in the tar paper-covered building. There I was told to read the eye chart. My eyes had not adjusted yet from the bright sun and I could not see the chart. The impatient medical officer made a notation on my records and I was sent to Dewitt General Hospital about 25 miles from there for another check to see if I qualified for general service or limited service. TO BE CONTINUED

THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Newsletter from Sebewa,
APRIL 2005, Volume 40, Number 5. Sebewa Township, Ionia County, MI.
Submitted with written permission of Editor Grayden D. SLOWINS:


SURNAMES: LAKIN, SHERWOOD, MEADE, CLARK, HITCHCOCK, MERRILL, SMITH, BALDOCK, GREEN, HASKINS, WATTS, PATTERSON, BADGER, KILBORN, TISDALE, HYNES, TAYLOR, MAXSON, AYLESWORTH, COGGESHALL, BEGGERLY, MILLS, SCHRAUBEN, GROSS, TRIERWEILER, ALLEN, LANE, KENYON, JACKSON, WILLARD, GIBBS

RECENT DEATHS:

BARBARA JEAN LAKIN SHERWOOD, 77, wife of Wayne H. SHERWOOD, mother of Yolanda BLISSETT, Brian, Bradford and Thomas SHERWOOD, sister of James, Roger, Kenneth and the late Douglas LAKIN, daughter of Mabel MEADE & Harold Donald LAKIN, son of Norah Elizabeth CLARK & Claude Dwight LAKIN, son of Elizabeth Aurelia HITCHCOCK & William Dwight LAKIN, son of Hulda ELLIS MERRILL & John F. LAKIN, son of Elizabeth Ann SMITH & William M. LAKIN, son of Ann BALDOCK & Thomas LAKIN.

Nora was a daughter of John CLARK & Harriet (Hattie) GREEN, daughter of Samuel GREEN & Melinda HASKINS, daughter of Lucy PATTERSON & Jesse HASKINS, son of Lois WATTS & Abraham HASKINS, son of Lois KILBORN & Elkanah HASKINS, son of Mehitable BADGER & Daniel HASKINS, son of Mary TISDALE & Richard HASKINS, son of ANN HYNES & William HASKINS, son of Henry GENT HOSKINS. Samuel GREEN was the son of Sarah (Sally) BEADLE TAYLOR & John GREENE, son of Mary MAXSON & Joshua GREEN, son of Mary AYLESWORTH & John GREEN, son of Humility COGGESHALL & Benjamin GREENE, son of Joan BEGGERLY & John GREENE, son of Robert GREENE, son of Henry GREENE, son of John GREENE, son of Robert GREENE, son of Robert GREENE, son John DeGREENE, son of Thomas DeGREENE, son of Henry DeGREENE, son of Justice DeGREENE, son of Thomas DeGREENE, son of T. DeGREENE DeBOKENTON.

Humility COGGESHALL was the daughter of Joshua COGGESHALL, second son of John COGGESHALL, one of the founders of Rhode Island.

Elizabeth Aurelia HITCHCOCK was the daughter of Delinda Jane MILLS & Rufus HITCHCOCK, son of Evelina M. WALLACE & Russell HITCHCOCK, son of Elizabeth HITCHCOCK & Oliver HITCHCOCK, son of Ruth STEBBINS & Samuel HITCHCOCK, son of Mary BALL & John HITCHCOCK, son of Hannah CHAPIN & John HITCHCOCK, son of Elizabeth GIBBONS & Luke HITCHCOCK, son of Luke HISCOCK. Elizabeth HITCHCOCK HITCHCOCK was a daughter of Elizabeth STEBBINS & Phineas HITCHCOCK, son of Mary SHELDEN & Ebenezer HITCHCOCK, son of Sarah BURT DORCHESTER & Luke HITCHCOCK, son of Elizabeth GIBBONS & Luke HITCHCOCK, son of Luke HISCOCK.  Delinda Jane MILLS was the daughter of Elizabeth DICKENSON & Stephen MILLS.

Hulda ELLIS MERRILL was a daughter of Nancy PHELPS & Daniel MERRILL, son of Hulda ELLIS & Daniel MERRILL, son of Mary SKINNER & Gad MERRIELS, son of Esther STRICKLAND & John MERRILL, son of Sarah MARSH & John MERRILL, son of Sarah WATSON & John MERRILL, son of Susanna WALTERTON & Nathaniel MERRILL, son of Mary BLACKWELL & Nathaniel MERRILL.

Lois KILBORN was a daughter of Rebecca DICKINSON & Abraham KILBORN, son of Sarah GOODRICH & Abraham KILBOURNE, son of Sarah BROWNSON & John KILBOURNE, son of Frances MOODY & Thomas KILBORNE, son of John KILBOURNE, son of John KILBOURNE.Barbara J. LAKIN SHERWOOD was a farmer on AINSWORTH Road in Berlin Township, Home Economics teacher at Saranac High School, Dietician at Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids, at Howell State Hospital, and at Ionia State Hospital, an Ionia County Commissioner and member of Ionia County Mental Health Board. She is buried in Saranac Cemetery.

WILLIAM N. SCHRAUBEN, 72, husband of Marie GROSS SCHRAUBEN, father of William, Ted, Dave and Steve SCHRAUBEN, Sharon HENGESBACH, Louise PUNG, Kaye SANDBORN, and Jan SIMON, brother of Donald and Dennis SCHRAUBEN, Arlene McCRUMB, Gertrude DILLY, Betty DINKEL, and the late Elda PIERCE, Marie BEARD, James, Mathias, LaVern and Thomas SCHRAUBEN, son of Mamie TRIERWEILER & MATHIAS SCHRAUBEN.  Bill was a farmer on Lookingglass Avenue in Portland Township and a carpet installer, and is buried in Portland Cemetery.

PAUL WILLIAM ALLEN, 78, husband of Alberta WEEKS ALLEN, father of Kellie, Tim and Curt ALLEN, Paula DeYOUNG, and the late Karen ALLEN, brother of Roger ALLEN, Bernice HAMP and the late Barbara ALLEN, son of Laura LANE & William ALLEN, son of Clare ALLEN, son of George ALLEN. Laura LANE was a daughter of Roy LANE. Paul was a farmer on Clarksville Road in Odessa Township and operated Lakewood Grain and Storage in Woodbury. They spent retirement winters in LaBelle, FL., and summers at Morrison Lake. Paul is buried at Lakeside Cemetery.

WILLARD E. KENYON, 86, husband of Grace JACKSON KENYON, father of Gene, Phillip and James KENYON, Karen RHYARD and Marcie GINDER, brother of Loraine KENYON and the late Madonna BLAKELY, son of Crystal WILLARD & Marvin KENYON. Willard was a farmer on Clinton Trail in Odessa Township and operated KENYON Television Company in Lake Odessa.

They spent retirement winters at Lake Como, FL, and summers in Lake Odessa. Willard was an avid fisherman and they were active in the United Methodist Church in both places. He was no known relation to the KENYONS of East Sebewa. There is some thought that he may be related to the M. E. KENYON family, who once lived at the southeast corner of Clarksville & SHILTON Roads, where Ron THELEN lives now, and have family burials in West Sebewa Cemetery. Willard is buried at Lakeside Cemetery.

PHOTOS ON FRONT PAGE OF THIS ISSUE OF SEBEWA CENTER SCHOOL BUILDING

TEACHERS OF SEBEWA CENTER SCHOOL DISTRICT NUMBER FOUR 1854-1965:
 

  
Luryette BROWN taught school in a log house at first, then in a wood framed schoolhouse built on the northwest corner of Sunfield & BIPPLEY Roads in 1856. The brick school at the northwest corner of SHILTON & BIPPLEY Roads was completed December 15, 1882. Some years a man taught winter term for more money than a woman got for spring term – because the big boys came – up to 21 years of age! END

BRYRON GIBBS’ WORLD WAR II MEMOIRS CONTINUED:

I had to stay at the hospital but still had the Camp KOHLER address and I could get out on a pass to get some clothes. On September 27, I was scheduled for a disposition board.

At the hospital I had nothing to do but wait. On Sept. 30, 1944, I obtained a damaged, regular army foot locker from salvage. The only damage was a broken lock. So I took a good lock from a smashed locker and bought some key blanks from a locksmith in Auburn and in the time I had to set around, I made some keys and got the good lock on it.

On Oct. 5, 1944, I was given a new address, Cas. Det. 2, 3158 Sig. Sv. Bn. Camp KOHLER. By Oct. 7, 1944, I had all my belongings from Camp KOHLER packed in the car as I heard the camp was closing.

About this time I got a letter from Lt. Dick KEMPER in Camp
CROWDER. He had picked up my dry cleaning I had to leave Camp
CROWDER without getting and would mail it to mother.
By Oct. 14, 1944, I had a new address, ward 117-B, Dewitt
General Hospital, Auburn, California. Camp KOHLER was closing
and the 3168 Sig. Sv. Bn. Was moving to Camp BEAL near
Marysville. By Oct. 19, 1944, I had taken my car into Auburn for
an oil change and tune up also for a check on the wheel
alignment.

By November 2, I was assigned to the Detachment of Patients since the stay was indefinite. There was not much to do other than play cards so I started building a model air plane.On Nov. 7, 1944, I think Burr ABRAHAMSON and his wife who had lived at Gillie’s in Mt. Pleasant and knew Gertie stopped to see me on their way to Ft. ORD, California.

Since there was little to do in the hospital, I worked in occupational therapy making leather picture frames. The surroundings around Dewitt General Hospital, were pleasant. It was a new hospital less a year old and some things like the theater had not been completed. From outside our ward we could see the snow-covered peaks of the Sierra Nevada Mountains about 50 miles away.

On Nov. 22, 1944, the day before Thanksgiving, I went before the retirement Board. This is a board much like the composition of a court-martial board with testimony to see if I should be retained in the service on permanent limited service without territorial restrictions. This had to be reviewed in Washington and it would take some time.

The officers in my ward were all about like I was, just waiting. Lt. FORNELIUS had been in the regular army long before the war in the Philippine Islands then was stationed in Panama where he got an inner ear infection. To walk down the hall he had to walk close to the wall as his sense of balance was gone. Another patient was a brain surgeon who had phlebitis and had to stay in bed with his legs up much of the time. He did however do brain surgery and put in metal plates for soldiers with head injuries. He said he would sit on an elevated chair and have a nurse talk to the patient as he worked. He would chisel out the bone and hammer in the plate. He said there was no pain but it was necessary for the patient to remain still. That is why the nurse was in front of the patient talking to him.

In the Auburn area was where the first gold strike of 1849 occurred and there were many small one man mines that were worked part time. I remember one local man telling me that gold could not be sold during the war but he sometimes mined a small quantity to save until he could sell it. He gave me a piece of rock with a small piece of gold in it. In my daily walks in the area I often picked up almonds laying on the ground. They were easy to shell and good to eat.

By Dec. 6, the theater at the hospital was completed. It seated about 250. I was not very interested in movies but I did see “For Whom The Bell Tolls”. The price was a reasonable 15 cents. Movies in Auburn at that time were 50 cents.

In early December, I was working in occupational therapy repairing donated radios to be used in the wards. Many wards were without radios. I was also busy installing the gasoline motor in the model plane and doing Christmas shopping and wrapping presents to mail.

I received a Christmas package from Gertie that I remember had a nice bill-fold in it. There were also packages from mother, the THORPS and the Clare Methodist Church.

On December 5, 1944, we had a big Christmas dinner with many guests in the mess hall. That day I took pictures of the Chapel and of the Christmas tree on the sun porch on our ward with the nurse, Myfanwy BOUDEN, who was the nurse on duty that day.

Eventually, I expected to be assigned to some unit but as the year ended I was still waiting for orders.

JANUARY 1, 1945 – MARCH 24, 1946:
On New Year’s Eve, there was a party in the Officers Club. Officer patients were not members, but we did go to the party.

I had a lot of respect for the army nurses. Our ward had one nurse that worked a 12-hour day and the other nurse worked 12 hours on the night shift. Nurses although commissioned officers only received $90 per month compared to a male 2nd Lt. pay of $150 per month. These nurses worked 7 days a week with only an occasional half day off. On Jan. 6, 1945 the night nurse had her mother and father come to visit. She had worked all night then went with them all day. By the time she was to go on duty that night she had been without sleep for 24 hours and she was dead tired. I told her to go sleep in one of the private rooms and I would sit at her desk and answer the phone or do any routine work not requiring a nurse. Only if necessary would I call her. I sat in her office until early morning writing letters. The Ward was quiet all night, no action was necessary just being there was all that was required.

On Jan. 12, 1945, I was still repairing donated radios and I had the model plane about finished to test. By the end of January I had received a letter from Lt. Ellsworth FLETCHER who was now in the Dutch East Indies. I had sent him a small leather picture holder for Christmas.

Early in February, I was working full time repairing radios for the wards. Then on Feb. 10, 1945, I finally got orders assigned me to Ft. MASON SFPE, APO #4294-K. Ft. MASON was about 130 miles from Dewitt General Hospital. At Ft. MASON, I was staying in the Guest House.

On February 11, 1945, I still had my car and drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and about 10 miles up the coast where I could look down at the houses along the shore. I sent home a footlocker and arranged to store my car at the Biltmore Garage on 351 Valencia St., San Francisco for $5 per month with Mr. W. S. BROCKMAN, the owner. This was a day parking garage but there were some places way back in that Mr. BROCKMAN was glad to rent by the month. He wanted to know how long I would store it. I gave a guess of nine months and paid three months in advance and asked mother to pay them in three month increments well in advance.

I knew I would be going overseas as I was now assigned to 6509-G at Camp STONEMAN 40 miles from San Francisco and on TDY as advanced representative at Ft. MASON. As advanced representative I was very busy getting things arranged for the units arrival.

The letter I wrote mother on Feb. 22, was opened by the Base Censor also the one written Feb. 23 giving my address as Casual Detachment 6509-G, APO # 18638, c/o Postmaster San Francisco. I was still on shore however. I had been very busy and was glad to have my car to get around. On Feb. 26, 1945 I was issued a steel helmet again. I used to think it did not weigh this much but now it seemed to weigh more.

On Feb. 27, 1945 the car was parked at the Biltmore Garage and I got on the USAT Noordam. I remember going aboard with my class A uniform on, my musette bag and Val Pack. All the troops loading were in fatigues as well as the nurses loading. I am sure they wondered who this is coming aboard in a class A uniform. I knew at the time we were destined for Manila, P. I., perhaps this is why the mail was censored even though I was in the U.S. I also knew at the time there were still Japanese in Manila.

On Feb. 28, 1945, we left San Francisco sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge. We went close enough to the Hawaiian Island to see one of the islands in the distance. The first stop was a Fincharen, New Guinea. March 17, 1945 we stayed on the ship and left the harbor March 18, 1945. We then stopped at Hollandia, New Guinea, March 20, 1945, and stayed on board leaving the same day March 20, 1945. We then went to Taclobin Harbor, Leyte, P.I. arriving March 27, 1945 and remaining in the harbor leaving April 5, 1945. We arrived in Manila Harbor, Luzon, PI April 8, 1945 and disembarked that same day going down a landing net into landing craft.

My Val Pack missed and went in the bay and had to be fished out. It floated but things got a little damp. We were loaded on trucks and driven through the walled city after dark where there was still spasmodic firing. That first night we were at a golf course I think to the north of Manila. I believe I slept on the ground that night with the mosquito bar over me. During the night I woke up with some animal nibbling at the hair on my head. It was a large rat and I got that out in a hurry. I suppose it liked the oil on my hair.

At the golf course the Japanese had a radio station and everything was still in place. The First Cavalry unit was supposed to be in the lead coming to Manila but somehow a Signal unit got ahead on the road to the golf course and arrived while the Japanese were still operating the radio station. They had all taken off running leaving the equipment on and food on the stove in the kitchen of the club house.

That first morning we had corn fritters for breakfast. They were good and we were hungry. We now had a new address GHQ Sig. Operations Group, USASOS (P) APO #75 c/o Postmaster San Francisco, California. We moved into a house in Manila. It was built of mahogany, all the floor joists, 2x4s and all. The floor and walls were highly polished mahogany and the partitions were woven bamboo. The house had a modern bath but not a reliable water supply. We did have a Filipino House Boy to look after out things. He had quit High School when the Japanese came but he wanted eventually to go to the University of California to be a T.V. engineer.

The buildings in downtown Manila had been bombed and burned. In the basement of the National Bank Building there was printed Japanese invasion currency four feet deep. It was worthless now but good to send home as souvenirs. The regular Philippine currency was pesos, 10 pesos was worth $5.00. One centavo was worth ½ cent. This was an easy exchange rate figure.

The GHQ Signal Center where we worked was in the Waterworks Building. It was not badly damaged by shells but the reinforced concrete building had been burned out. We had to cross the Pasig River on the Jones Bridge to get to work each day. This bridge had been badly damaged but a Bailey Bridge had been laid over so the roadway was useable.

By April 15, we had moved closer to work. We still had an unreliable source of water so we kept the bathtub full and used our helmets for washing and bathing. We did have lights from a Signal Corps generator set in the front yard. I would sit on the front porch in the evening and see a cart go by pulled by a water buffalo. There would be several brightly decorated pony carts that served as taxis. We would also see women walk by with a big tray balanced on their heads carrying vegetables, fruits, or perhaps laundry. There was quite a contrast in transportation, a 1941 Ford was parked on the street along with a 1939 and 1940 Buick and Nash. Most of the two wheeled farm carts coming to the city were pulled by a carabao or water buffalo as they were called.

The house we lived in was constructed entirely of mahogany. The 2 x 4’s, floor joists, rafters and all else. The walls were beautiful highly polished mahogany. The floor was also highly polished mahogany with boards one foot to 18” wide. The windows had mahogany frames and instead of glass they used opaque sea shell in 3” squares. A sash had 84 of those opaque squares. All the wood was what we would consider for use in fine furniture. Here this mahogany was used for everything.

We had a phone line from the house to the Signal Center. We never discussed any work outside the Signal Center. There were very few times however when they had trouble at night and I was called. In these cases I asked for a Jeep to come and pick me up. It was ink black on the streets at night and not always safe. Some mornings we would see a dead Japanese on the sidewalk when we went to work. Everyone would just walk around him. There were still Japanese hiding in the ruins. They would come out at night to hunt for food and get shot by a Filipino scout.

One night I remember being on duty and we needed some part from the Signal Depot. It was within walking distance and I went with one of my Sargeants who knew how to get there. It was pitch dark, and you could see nothing. There is nothing darker than a bombed out city on a moonless night. All of a sudden we were stopped near the door of the signal depot by a Filipino Scout with a carbine. I asked him how he knew were Americans and not Japanese. He said he could tell by the sound of our stops. He also said he could smell Japanese. I expect they did smell different.

It was surprising to meet someone you worked with in the states. In our mess hall I met Lt. Gillentine and Lt. Clanton who I was with in Virginia. I also saw the nurse, Lt. Bouden and five other nurses from Dewitt General Hospital.

On Sunday, April 22, 1945, I walked by a Catholic Church in the morning where they were having mass. There was no roof, no doors, no windows, but the church was full of worshipers all dresses in their best, very clean, clothes. The Filipinos all seem to be neat and clean every day.

I remember visiting the San Sebastian Cathedral one day that was not Sunday. It was quiet when I walked in but I could hear this faint music. It was cool and……………TO BE CONTINUED

THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Newsletter from Sebewa
JUNE 2005, Volume 40, Number 6. Sebewa Township, Ionia County, MI.
Submitted with written permission of Editor Grayden D. SLOWINS:


SURNAMES: HEINTZELMAN, FISHER, JOHNSON, SLATER, ACKERSON, COURTS, CARPENTER, HEYBOER, FRYLING, LEE, EZINGA, FRYLING, MARSMAN, GOODBLOOD, PEACOCK, CAREY, HALLER, GLASGOW, CONWAY, JACOBS, DURAND, SANDBORN, SMITH, SALYERS, WEAVER, KLEISMIT, WEAVER, STIFFLER, PEABODY, GOODRICH, HOLBROOK, THUMA, BENJAMIN, PATTERSON, WILSON, WESTVEER, JEWELL, BARCROFT, MAZIE, KUDIRKA, PYLE, USBORNE, ELWELL, KNOWLES, DOWNING, SLOWINS, GIBBS

RECENT DEATHS:

ROBERT L. HEINTZELMAN, 76, widower of Shirley FISHER HEINTZELMAN, father of Mark HEINTZELMAN & Sonya HEINTZELMAN JOHNSON, brother of the late Norton, Howard & Everett HEINTZELMAN, Olive SLATER, Dorothy ACKERSON & June COURTS, son of Grace CARPENTER & Harry HEINTZELMAN, son of William E. HEINZELMAN, who settled on BIPPLEY Rd. in Sebewa Township in 1876. A U.S. Navy Veteran 1946-1950, he worked 19 years for Mitchell-Bentley and 22 years for Greenville Tool & Die Co. He is buried at BALCOM Cemetery.

EVELYN F. GOODBLOOD HEYBOER, 82, widow of Warren, mother of Richard HEYBOER & Arlene LEE, sister of Marian EZINGA & the late Ruth FRYLING, daughter of Lena MARSMAN & John GOODBLOOD. They farmed first in Kent County and then on Grand River Trail in Orange & Sebewa Townships. She is buried in East Sebewa Cemetery.

REINE ELIZABETH CONWAY PEACOCK, 90, widow of Thomas Leander PEACOCK, mother of Betty CAREY, Thomas, Richard & Harry PEACOCK, and the late Helen HALLER, Catherine PEACOCK & Frances GLASGOW, sister of Sister William Mary & Sister Carmella, and the late Russell & Ivan CONWAY, Mary JACOBS & Sister Magdalena, daughter of Blanche DURAND & William Hugh CONWAY. Long active in catering banquets for St. Edwards Parish, Lake Odessa Schools & the community, she was the first recipient of the Janie Rodriguez Award. The PEACOCKS are one of the oldest families in Sebewa Township, having settled in Sections 5 & 6 on KNOLL & CLARKSVILLE Roads before 1865. She was therefore active in genealogy and the Lake Odessa Area Historical Society and is buried at Lakeside Cemetery.

MADELINE LEE (MINDI) WEAVER SANDBORN, 52, wife of Bruce G. SANDBORN, Jr., mother of Heather A. SMITH, sister of April SALYERS, Richard L. WEAVER, Jr. & Charles WEAVER, and the late Jack & Paul WEAVER, daughter of Kathleen Mae KLEISMIT & Richard Lee WEAVER, Sr. She is buried in East Sebewa Cemetery.

MARY MAE GOODRICH SANDBORN, 79, widow of Howard SANDBORN, mother of William, Robert & Edward SANDBORN, sister of Orpha STIFFLER, Stan & Alfred GOODRICH, and the late Byron GOODRICH & Loretta PEABODY, daughter of Oma HOLBROOK & Alfred T. GOODRICH. They farmed on MUSGROVE Highway in Danby Township and she was active in genealogy & crafts. She is buried in East Sebewa Cemetery.

OPAL GRACE BENJAMIN THUMA, 96, widow of Clyde THUMA, sister of Eugene BENJAMIN and the late Gerald, Howard, Vernon & infant Donald BENJAMIN, daughter of Cora PATTERSON & Fred BENJAMIN. She farmed hard on their BIPPLEY Road farm all her married life. She is buried in East Sebewa Cemetery.

MARGARET THUMA WILSON, 86, wife of John WILSON, mother of Duane WILSON, Janice JEWELL, Barbara GROSS & Sharon WESTVEER, sister of the late Clyde & Volney THUMA, daughter of Raymond & Ella THUMA. They farmed all their married life on the Edwin & Bart BUCK Farms on Peck Lake Road in Orange Township, first as tenants and then as owners. She is buried in East Sebewa Cemetery.

WILMA USBORNE WILSON, 84, widow of Keith WILSON, mother of Thomas, Victor, Mary Ann & Elma WILSON, Anita BARCROFT, Jane MAZIE & Janet KUDIRKA, sister of Mildred PYLE, Alex USBORNE, and the late John, Gordon, Mercy & Greeta USBORNE and Jessie ELWELL, daughter of Verdie KNOWLES & John USBORNE. They farmed first on his parents’ on YORK Road in Sebewa Township, where they were active in Sebewa Community Farm Bureau Group, and then on HENDERSON Road in Odessa Township, where they had a large dairy herd with their sons. She is buried in Fuller Cemetery in Carlton Township, Barry County.

MARGARET WILSON’S husband, John, was the son of Alfred (Fred) WILSON, son of Francis (Frank) WILSON.  WILMA WILSON’S husband, Keith, was the son of Ella PEACOCK & Victor WILSON, son of Arthur WILSON. Frank & Arthur WILSON were brothers. Their family settled on PETRIE Road in Sections 1 & 2 Sebewa Township before 1891. By 1906 Frank was up in Orange Township. Arthur was on YORK Road in Sebewa Township, and their third brother, Theodore (Ted) straddled the line on KNOX Road, on the farm later known as the Francis LAWLESS farm and now as the HEYBOER farm. ELLA PEACOCK WILSON was the daughter of Catherine E. DOWNING & Benjamin Calvin PEACOCK, who settled on KNOLL Road in 1865.

FRONT PAGE PHOTOS OF Ionia Steam and Gas Farm Power Show Coming again June 24-26, 2005

ANNIVERSARY: Oren & Beulah AUSTIN DANIELS celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on June 22. Oren is 95 and Beulah is 89!

OUR THIRD TRIP TO FLORIDA by Grayden SLOWINS:

Monday, February 14, 2005, up at 5:00, 37 degrees and rainy……loaded last perishable items from refrigerator, shut off pump & water heater, dialed down furnace and left things in the capable hands of Ken CARR…….traveled 383 miles this first day………to Louisville KOA………south of Louisville we began to see where cattle are left in the rolling hill pastures all winter. Some round bales of hay are fed to supplement the short winter grass and the cattle droppings are scattered everywhere over the pasture, not bunched up around sheds or trees. A few are large dairy farms, but most are small beef cow/calf operations and a few large feedlots with cattle on dirt. An Allis-Chalmers WD tractor with attachments sits in one farmyard. Old tractors need to be run on odd jobs occasionally to stay in shape – like we all do! In southern Kentucky we are getting into red dirt and huge soybean stubble fields, maybe 240 acres in a chunk………We entered Tennessee and immediately began to see large horse & cattle “Estates” with big new manor houses and stables and horse-training barns………down to US-10 east of Tallahassee. Nasty turns in Dothan & Thomasville are nerve wracking, as well as the one in Montgomery. In Alabama & Georgia we saw pecan trees and little peach trees in blossom, and harvested rows of peanuts that looked like potato rows, near a shelling plant. Some ground was recently plowed for spring crops and they were getting the planters ready………to Starke KOA Kampground………

February 17, 61 degrees & misty in morning, reaching mid 70s & sunny by 3:00………

February 18, did laundry and visited with men at coffee break room and then at Wally GIMBEL’S trailer………he was born & raised on a centennial farm at Freeport, near Breslau, Waterloo County, Ontario, where his father was an Allis-Chalmers Dealer………

February 23, 65 degrees at 7:00…..Wally GIMBEL says their name is same as GIMBEL’S department store. So he suspects he may have some Jewish blood too by way of the French Huguenots who came to Pennsylvania and then to Waterloo. His mother’s relatives are the Mennonities.

BYRON GIBBS’ WORLD WAR II MEMOIRS CONTINUED:

……peaceful in the Cathedral. There were no pews I noticed. People must have stood or sat on the floor. After a while, I found out where the faint music sound came from. It was Monks high up in the choir loft chanting their prayers. The Cathedral was not damaged. The outside was made of cast iron sections painted gray. These were made in Belgium and fitted together in Manila. It was a beautiful building.

On April 29, 1945, I found out I had a cable address that was 2nd Lt. Byron GIBBS 0-505036 AMTEBY. That day I had seen some beautiful linen table cloths 6’ x 12’ or more priced at 390 pesos ($195). The sales woman said they were made in China and took six women 18 months to make. I also saw many beautiful silk tapestries and kimonos for around 200 pesos ($100).

In the evening as soon as the sun goes down, the mosquitos come out and it was necessary to wear a shirt and when sleeping at night to be inside a mosquito bar.

On April 30, 1945, I sent mother a Mother’s Day cable. It was surprising that a cable could be sent for $.60. I think it rained that day from my notes. When it rains it pours. You get caught in it and drenched to the skin but then the sun may come out and the steam will roll off the street and out of the clothes you are wearing and you are dry in a short time.

I did not know just where people bought groceries as I never saw any grocery stores. There was however a Farmers Market with everything. Meat was hung in the open air or laid on a counter and just covered with black flies. The sight and smell was enough to make you not want meat.

There did not seem to be any beggars on the streets, but we always had hungry boys, however, standing around the mess hall waiting for us to share some. They usually had a pail made from about a one gallon tin can. Our mess hall was on the ground floor of the Chico Building just across the Jones Bridge over the Pasig River.

The mess hall was fenced in and we had mess personnel there around the clock because the Signal Corps was a 24 hour per day operation 7 days a week. Some nights a Japanese would come out of hiding and get in and get some food and quickly disappear. The unarmed mess personnel could not keep them out. Our meals here cost the officers just 25 cents each and we had good meals. With the Signal Center being a 24-hour a day operation seven days a week, it was necessary to have at least two of my repair teams on duty all the time.

These men were the most capable mechanics I have ever worked with. They were able to do anything or make anything. To insure that the equipment was in good operating condition I set up a preventative maintenance schedule with each shift having some definite piece of equipment to clean and check. One big problem, I knew, would be dirt, since the windows were all gone in the building there was no way to keep the wind blown dirt out of the equipment. The solution had to be careful, frequent cleaning.

I had a schedule posted on the wall so everyone knew what they were supposed to do preventative maintenance on. We did sometimes have mechanical parts break and we had in our maintenance kit things like springs and nuts. If a major part was needed, the old part was sent by officer courier to Washington and in a few days an officer courier would deliver the new part. This was something that rarely occurred. The repairmen could make about anything with a few simple tools such as files. Materials were scrap metal that might be salvaged from a downed Japanese plane.

There was a small team of Australians on the floor below us that had their own code room equipment. I think they had just one officer and one Sargent. They could not get their equipment to work for two or three days and were very concerned.

Their officer came to our Signal Officer and asked if our cryptographic repair officer and the best mechanic would see if their equipment could be repaired. To have even an Ally look at your cryptographic equipment was something that was never done. They were desperate though and took a chance on us. I took a Sargent with me. The equipment was as high as an upright piano and couple of feet wide. Their Sargent removed the back panel and there was a large number of relays all connected with red insulated wire. My first thought was a dirty contact somewhere so we cleaned each contact by drawing a strip of bond paper between the points. When we finished the equipment worked and they were much relieved to be able to encipher and decipher messages again.

One morning, not long after I was in Manila, I was with another officer on the street near the headquarters of the Armed Forces Southwest Pacific. There was a crowd of people lining each side of the street for some distance as if waiting for a parade. I asked the officer if there was some special event. He told me the crowd was there every morning just to get a glimpse of General MacArthur being driven to his office. When the Japanese invaded the Philippines and the American and Filipino forces were defeated, General MacArthur pledged to the Filipino people “I shall return”. He was their liberator, their hero. They all wanted to at least see him in his car as he was driven past.

One time I remember going with an officer, Lt. Peterson, I think, to General Douglas MacArthur’s residence to deliver a message. If a coded message came in for General MacArthur as the enlisted man would start to decipher it he would see an indicator that the message was to be seen only by the addressee. The enlisted man would then have the duty officer in the code room complete the work and seal the message in an envelope for delivery. Then an armed officer would personally deliver it. I think for that message delivery to General MacArthur, both Lt. Peterson and I were armed with Colt 45s.

My primary responsibility was maintenance of the code room equipment. With a good preventative maintenance program and well-designed equipment, there was a good deal of free time for everyone. Some additional duties could be easily handled.

In May, the officer overseeing the work of several Filipino labor gangs was in the hospital and that job fell to me for a short time. There were some good Filipino foremen over the labor gangs so this additional assignment was no great problem.

In a letter to my mother, written on May 7, 1945, I said I would stay up to hear President Harry TRUMAN talk at 10:00 because I expected he would tell of the German surrender. The house we were living in had a leak in the roof and when it rained I had to string a shelter half over my bunk. The real rainy season had not started yet so this was no serious problem.

By May 14, 1945, I had started making a pair of triangular shape mahogany lamps with squares of thin sea shell used instead of glass. The squares of then sea shells were used in many residential windows. I was now on duty 7 days a week but this still left some free time. The equipment in the code room worked well.

By May 20, 1945, we had a PX with limited supplies such as soap, tooth paste, tomato juice, candy bars and peanuts. In a letter home I mentioned that I had a Baby Ruth candy bar for the first time since leaving the U.S.

On May 23, 1945, I had a surprise visit by Dick EARLY, who had been with me at Harvard, M.I.T. and Camp Murphy, Florida. Also had a visit from Al LOBBEZOO, who had been in Co. C. during the time at Camp Livingston. He had transferred to the 32nd Division Signal Co. and was starting his 4th year overseas.

Traffic had been on the opposite side of the road to that in the United States but effective June 1, 1945, that changed. All traffic was now the same as in the United States. The next day, June 2, 1945, we had moved to the 5th floor of the Chico Building. This was a reinforced concrete building that had suffered little damage to the structure. It had however been burned out. The elevator had been destroyed. The overhead water tank and pump still functioned but the level control had burned so it was necessary for a man on the ground floor where the mess hall was to manually turn on and off the pump.

I decided to rebuild the control with some brass strips cut from an artillery shell casing and some other parts salvaged from other equipment. This worked and now we had a reliable supply of water for showers in the second floor shower room with no one assigned to watch the pump and turn it off and on.

The electric system was still intact and the ceiling fans operated. The lights were 220 volt bulbs and rather dim. I hooked up a 110-volt light in series with my Knight Radio so we now had radio and reading light. I priced bulbs made in China and Japan that were in a hardware store. A 60-watt bulb, four pesos ($2.00). Everything was not high priced, however, bananas were 10 centavos (five cents). They were very good, tree ripened with a little different taste.

Our 5th floor living quarters just had folding canvas cots and a Signal Corps table for the telephone, radio, and to write on. There were openings in the outer walls with several small balconies having iron railings. The one closest to my bunk had a dried up potted palm. This potted palm contained the solution to a mystery. At night we laid some of the contents of our pockets on the floor beside our bunks along with our shoes and socks. We began to notice some items missing in the morning. Cigarettes, gum, and candy and anything shiny seemed to disappear. We finally found a pack rat had a nest in the potted palm and there was all the missing items including one sock.

The Chico Building was just across the Pasig River. It was now just a few blocks to work across the Jones Bridge. From the 5th floor, we had quite a view of the city. Many of the nearby buildings had been destroyed. We could see in the distance………TO BE CONTINUED.

THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Newsletter from Sebewa;
AUGUST 2005, Volume 41, Number 1. Sebewa Township, Ionia County, MI.
Submitted with written permission of Editor Grayden D. SLOWINS:


SURNAMES: LEHMAN, WILSON, THUMA, JEWELL, GROSS, WESTVEER, MOSSON, VROMAN, YOUNG, RUSSELL, WRIGHT, KRUGER-MILLS, CHAPMAN, NEEDHAM, SCHNABEL, ROLL, GRENIC, SAYER, WARNER, SHELTON, GIERMAN, GUNN, KLAGER, BENSCHNEIDER, RARICK, GRIMES GRAY, AUSTIN, DANIELS, SLOWINS, GIBBS, PRYER, MEYERS, LEIK

RECENT DEATHS:

JOHN CLIFFORD WILSON, 95, widower of Margaret THUMA WILSON, father of Duane WILSON, Janice JEWELL, Barbara GROSS & Sharon WESTVEER, brother of the late Charles WILSON, son of Sarah MOSSON & Alfred WILSON, son of Francis (Frank) WILSON, who family settled in Sections 1 & 2 Sebewa Township before 1891. They farmed all their life on the Edwin & Bart BUCK farms on Peck Lake Road in Orange Township, first as tenants and then as owners. Margaret passed away two months before him and they are buried beside his grandfather Frank in East Sebewa Cemetery.

MARJORIE CHAPMAN VROMAN, 81, widow of Joseph VROMAN, Jr., mother of Patricia YOUNG, Phillip VROMAN, Karen RUSSELL, Barbara WRIGHT & Susan KRUGER-MILLS, sister of Gerald & Gordon CHAPMAN, daughter of Marjorie NEEDHAM & Archibald Chapman. She came to America as an English war bride in 1945 and after raising her family was bookkeeper at their HSV Redi Mix Company and longtime treasurer and choir member at Zion Lutheran Church. She is buried at Woodland Memorial Park.

ELEANOR SCHNABEL, 91, sister of the late Rita & James SCHNABEL, daughter of Elizabeth ROLL & Robert SCHNABEL, son of Marina GRENIC & Martin SCHNABEL, son of Regina & Anton SCHNABEL. The Martin SCHNABEL family settled on the corner of HARWOOD & Portland Roads in Berlin Township in 1857. Eleanor attended Ionia County Normal and taught in rural schools for nine years. She worked at Ypsilanti Reed/AC Spark Plug for two years during WW II and retired after thirty years as a teller at Ionia County National Bank in 1975 at age 62. She built a new house on Alden Drive in North Berlin Township and lived another 30 years in retirement. She is buried at Mt. Olivet.

STANLEY SAYER, 87, widower of Sherry WARNER SAYER, father of Naomi SHELTON, son of Edna GIERMAN & Clarence SAYER, son of Isabelle GUNN & Jacob SAYER, son of Christena & John SAYER. Edna GIERMAN was the daughter of Christina KLUGER & Charles GIERMAN, son of Sophia BENSCHNEIDER & Frederick (Fritz) GIERMAN. Isabelle GUNN was the daughter of Amelia RARICK & Theodore GUNN. Stanley farmed all his life on the family farm on KIMMEL Road in Sebewa Township and retired to a small farm on David Highway at Collins in Portland Township.

GRACE GRIMES GRAY, 94, first wife of the late Duane GRAY, sister of the late Carol GRIMES and a brother in California, daughter of Bertha & Marion GRIMES. Grace was born dirt poor on a forty-acre farm at the S.E. corner of CASSEL & YORK Roads in Sebewa Township. She overcame great odds to acquire an education. She paid her room, board, books & tuition to Portland High School by working as a live-in maid for the Chester BLANCHARD family. While their own daughter, her classmate, did not have to lift a finger to do household chores that normal families expect.

She is listed as a graduate of Lake Odessa High School in 1929, and then attended Ionia County Normal. She taught rural Ionia County Schools and eventually became a fully certified Elementary teacher in Lakewood Schools, from which she retired. Her last years were spent within a wall of silence, ending at Cumberland Manor in Lowell. She is buried with her father, mother, and baby sister on their lot in West Sebewa Cemetery.

FRONT PAGE PHOTO: Historic Barn Display, Ionia Free Fair, July 21-30, 2005. Standing with horses in front of the barn are:
Frank & Regina LEHMAN, with son PETER at Family Barn, 307 W. KNOLL Rd. Current Owners are Tom & Chris WILSON.See our Family Barn Story in Volume 32, OCTOBER 1997, Number 2 or <TheBarnJournal.org>

OUR THIRD TRIP TO FLORIDA – CONTINUED; by Grayden SLOWINS:

Thursday, February 24, 63 degrees & misty……

Saturday, 50 degrees………Talked with Sally & Henry from Barre, Vermont. Second marriage for both, she has seven children and he has two………following the trend most everywhere, little Barre, the monument capital, is getting built up to homes. Henry’s father had the International Harvester-Massey-Ferguson-New Idea dealership, but their hilly stony land is only good for hay & pasture, and most small dairy farms have lost out. Some have been turned into hobby farms raising sheep as they did prior to 1830………

Tuesday, March 1, 43 degrees & sunny. At the potluck supper we sat with Elmer (Dude) & Barbara MOHN from northwestern Illinois near the Mississippi River. He is age 68 and retired from Keystone Wire Co. which made Red Brand Fence and Red Top Posts. We used a lot of both products on our Sebewa Sheep Farm and are just now pulling out the last to recycle them and make way for eight-wheel center-articulated tractors & wide tillage, planting and harvesting tools………

Friday, March 4………Biked another one and a half miles after lunch. J. W. STEFFEN shot a Cottonmouth (Water Moccasin) Snake in the back pond today. The temperature got to 67 degrees by noon and with very little breeze, it was just right for sitting outside to read. Lots of bikers……

Saturday, March 5………Mail arrives Saturdays and with a high of 72 degrees, it’s time to sit outside to read & absorb 72 degree sun. TO BE CONTINUED

BYRON GIBBS’ WORLD WAR II MEMOIRS CONTINUED:

Santo Tomas University. This, the Japanese had used as a prison for interned civilians and 67 American Nurses captured at the fall of Corregidor. I had heard when the American forces re-entered Manila a First Calvary tank rolled up to the gate and broke it down. The Japanese prison commander charged the tank with his drawn sword and was shot by the tank commander. I did visit Santo Tomas and saw some of the hard wood cages in which prisoners had been kept.

At night we could look out over the city and see very few lights. The Signal Center was one of the places with lights on all night and as busy at night as during the day with messages coming and being sent all over the world. The equipment had to function at all times so members of the maintenance team were on duty night and day.

During the summer of 1945, I was seeing many planning messages in the code room for the invasion of mainland Japan giving casualty estimates. The number of doctors, nurses, and other personnel required, the number of hospital ships and the tons of medical supplies. This was very disturbing. I would go in the evening to our quarters on the fifth floor of the Chico Building and lay on my canvas folding cot thinking isn’t there any way we can avoid this.

It made me feel sick inside to think of the casualty estimates. I could never talk to anyone about what I had seen. We never discussed anything we had seen. The estimate of the number of casualties was very large and I expect they were accurate based on our experience in other island invasions. This however would be worse than Iwo Jima or Saipan. On mainland Japan every man, woman, and child would become a guerrilla fighter defending their sacred homeland. I am sure President Harry Truman reflected on these estimates in making his decision to drop the atomic bombs that caused a sudden end of hostilities and the saving of many more Japanese and American lives than we can imagine.

By June 7, 1945, censorship was lifted to the extent that we could now say we were in Manila and we could mention places in the Philippines we had been. About this time I ordered some Heller Swiss jeweler files to be used in making some small parts. The Heller Company sent them at no charge which I certainly appreciated.

During WW II all radios were the tube type, both military and civilian. There was an effort to make radios smaller and lighter. A Sargent in the radio repair section had a small battery operated radio he wanted to sell as he was expecting to go home soon on rotation. It was a General Motors (GM) Pocket Portable, Model 985775 measuring 4 ¼” W x 7 ½” H x 2 ¾” D. It had a standard superheterodyne circuit but with miniature parts.

The tubes were 1r5, 1t4, 1s5, 3s4, and the batteries were a B 67 ½ Volt Eveready #467 and the A battery a D flashlight battery. It did not work when I bought it and I knew it. I just paid 15 pesos ($7.50) for it about June 25, 1945 and I repaired the open lead to the oscillator coil and replaced one tube and it worked fine. I have never seen one of these described or for sale any place. I still have this unique radio.

Lt. PETERSON and I had gone swimming a few times with two nurses form the 248 General Hospital, Lt. Frieda JOHNS and Lt. Helen SCHLABACH. The weather was good for swimming any time. The temperatures in Manila are mild, year around. The average temperature in January is 75 degrees and the average in June is 82 degrees. On July 19, Helen SCHLABACH came back to the 248 General Hospital from New Guinea and Lt. PETERSON and I went out there. The 248 General Hospital was located just east of Manila in Pasig about 5 miles from downtown.

In July I continued to send most of my pay home. I would send $100 money orders and keep a record at their number to be sure mother received them.

The hometown paper, the CLARE SENTINEL, came regularly and it was passed around for the others to read…..there were letters from servicemen in it. One was a letter a service man wrote to his dad, he said in part…….”was very glad to get your letter. It was the first one you have written me in over a year.” The fellows had a good laugh about this. You would not have been proud of neglecting to write his on in over a year.

On August 1, 1945, we now have an Officers’ Club in a rented place with a pool and an outdoor dance floor. This was located within walking distance. We went there, Lt. PETERSON, Lt. Frieda JOHNS, Lt. Helen SCHLABACH and myself. We took along sandwiches for a picnic supper.

On the evening of August 10, 1945, I was in our quarters on the 5th floor of the Chico Building and the field phone rang about 9:00. It was Lt. SUSTURKA who was duty officer at the Signal Center that evening. He was excited and said he just got a message from our short wave monitor station that Japan was willing to discuss terms of surrender.

It must have been around 11:30 before word got around to all the soldiers and ships in the harbor after the armed forces radio news broadcast. It was dark then and there was now a lot of firing in the streets and an occasional stray bullet would ricochet off our walls and ceiling. The ships in the harbor were firing their guns and it looked like a 4th of July celebration. Someone asked me if I did not want to go out and celebrate. I told them no I had gone all through the war without getting shot and I did not want to get shot as we were about to see the war end. We knew now that we could plan on going home sometime within a few months.

August 18, 1945, the float switch on the water tank needed repair. It looked as if this switch would need to have the contacts cleaned every three weeks or so. That week I also had to fix the burned out speaker transformer on my Knight radio. This repair was successful and the radio ended up working like new.

Near the end of August, Lt. Helen SCHLABACH was head nurse at the 248 General Hospital. The point system was now at 106 points to go home. It would take sometime yet to get to my 83 points. Mail was still being censored even though the war was over. The last letter opened by a censor was a letter to mother dated Aug. 31, 1945.

The first of September I went up to San Fernando with another officer who had business to do up there. The trip one way is a little over 40 miles. It is on the way to Clark Field. I had never seen the country before so it was interesting to me. It seems as all the farmers between Manila and there grow mostly rice, a little sugar cane and a few bananas. The rice fields were beautifully green. On the way up there we met a convoy of trucks loaded with surrendered Japanese. It was the most live Japanese soldiers in one bunch that I had ever seen. They were all dressed in their best uniforms and were wearing their packs and cartridge belts. They did not look at all starved to me and in fact they looked as if they had been eating pretty well. Most of them looked as if they were glad it was all over.

September 22, 1945, Lt. PETERSON and I took a repaired radio to the 248 General Hospital. There were now many British former prisoners of war patients. Some had been prisoners since before the fall of Singapore there for treatment. They all seemed to be in good spirits but very thin and a large number had TB.

In the last week of Sept., Lt. PETERSON, Lt. Frieda JOHNS, Lt. Helen SCHLABACH and I went swimming. To got too late to get in the mess hall so Lt. PETERSON took us to an excellent Chinese place run by Mr. WONG. It was in a house on a side street of a residential section on the far side of Santa Mesa about five miles from the center of Manila. There was no sign, just word of mouth to bring business. Mr. WONG was a Chinese American citizen who had a fine restaurant downtown before the war. It had been destroyed and he was starting over in his house. The chop suey was delicious. I think the wonderful Chinese meal was only about $1.50 at the time. Lt. PETERSON had a jeep at his disposal all the time and one time previously, I had gone there with him. How he had ever located it in the first place, I do not know.

By October 28, 1945, Lt. TANNER took Lt. BETT, Lt. FORCINA and I to Binan about 15 miles south of Manila to get some wooden shoes. We got back late so we went to the mess at the Manila Hotel. This was where the high-ranking officers were billeted. Lt. TANNER lived there so he could take us as his guests. They had fresh salad and soup with the meal at one peso (50 cents). This was a bargain.

As of November 1, 1945, I was the highest point officer in the Signal Center with 83 points. Lt. BETT had 81. On this date the Chico Building was turned over to civilians and we moved to an area across the street from the Waterworks Building. As of November 1, I was relieved of duties at the Signal Center. My 83 points looked good now. Officers with 85 points are now on orders to return to the U.S. Things were beginning to move rapidly.

On November 2, 1945, I was promoted to 1st Lt. I did not know it till I saw it posted on the bulletin board November 7. On November 9, I received orders to go to the 21st Replacement Depot for shipment to the U.S. The order was dated November 8, 1945.

On November 10, we knew there would be a message to General MacArthur with official notification of Japanese Capitulation and his appointment as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers effective with receipt of the message. We had every Teletype in the Signal Center hooked up so everyone could get an original copy of this message.

November 15, 1945, at the Replacement Depot, about 6 miles east of Manila, I sold my Knight Radio to an American soldier. Now I wish I had kept that radio.

November 19, 1945, I wrote that I expected to be in the Replacement Depot up to 29 days as there were 600 ahead of me to go but things moved fast. I was now scheduled to leave November 22, as advance officer for 200 going. Lt. BETT is also going. He was promoted to 1st Lt. Nov. 20. Shipment was postponed until 0830 Nov. 23, 1945.

The trip across the Pacific was one that passed quickly. No more black outs, no evasive course, just straight to San Francisco where we arrived on December 15, 1945. I went to Camp STONEMAN then Camp BEAL near Marysville. I hitchhiked from there to San Francisco but I got there after the Biltmore Garage where the car was stored had closed for the day. I located Mr. BROCKMAN at home and he said he would have my car out in the morning, ready to go. That night I stayed at the Guest House at Fort MASON. The next morning Dec. 16, 1945, I picked up the car and went to Camp BEAL.

In February 1945 when I arranged to leave the car at the Biltmore Garage, Mr. BROCKMAN had asked how long I would store it. I really had no idea but I gave a guess at nine months. Here it was ten months later that I picked up the car.

I was in the Oakland Regional Hospital December 19, scheduled to go before a Disposition Board December 21. There I might be reclassified as general service from limited service for the purpose of being discharged and eliminating a lot of red tape. I now had the car in a garage a block from the hospital being greased, having the oil changed and being washed.

December 23, 1945, I was at the Camp BEAL Separation center and had started processing. December 24, 1945, at 11:30 a.m., I am ready to leave after lunch for home. That day I signed up to remain in the Reserves and joined the Reserve Officers Association.

I started driving on the southern route which is longer but is recommended this time of year. That night Dec. 24, 1945, I had traveled 300 miles and stayed somewhere north of Bakersfield, California. On Dec. 25, 1945, I drove to Flagstaff about 489 miles. It was snowing there and four or five inches of fresh snow was on the ground. A bus stop was about the only thing open to get something to eat. It looks very pretty out, the snow coming down and no wind. The next morning driving was all right and on Dec. 26, 1945, I drove about 500 miles arriving at Tucumcari, New Mexico.

Driving after dark there was little traffic and the 1940 Ford really run smooth. The night of Dec. 27, 1945, I stayed in Tulsa, Oklahoma after driving about 470 miles. The night of December 28, 1945, I stayed in Springfield, IL, after driving about 488 miles.

The next night, Dec. 29, 1945, I arrived home in Clare, MI, after driving about 385 miles. It certainly did seem good to be home. The next day, Dec. 30, 1945, I typed a letter to the Personnel Adjutant, Oakland Regional Station Hospital requesting a copy of Order 306 dated 21 Dec. 1945 that reclassified me as general service and sent me to Camp BEAL 22 Dec. 1945 for processing.

I was now on terminal leave until March 25, 1946 and on the army payroll and on active duty till that date. END

EDITOR’S NOTE: We have received numerous compliments on Byron GIBBS’ story from people who have been in that part of the world. Bill PRYER and Wes MEYERS and others were there in WW II, and Charles LEIK was there in his work with the Export-Import Bank.

THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Newsletter from Sebewa;
OCTOBER 2005, Volume 41, Number 2. Sebewa Township, Ionia County, MI.
Submitted with written permission of Editor Grayden D. SLOWINS:


SURNAMES: CROSS, NASH, FLEETHAM, BELAND, WHITE, COGSWELL, RICE, SINDLINGER, McLEAN, ALLEN, LEHMAN, SLOWINS, SHOWERMAN, BROWN, HARMON, WELD, PACKARD, WADDELL, BARR, OLRY, ESTEP, MORRIS, SEYBOLD, MEYERS, GIERMAN, DROSTE, FENDER, MEYERS

RECENT DEATHS:

LEAH L. BELAND CROSS, 93, widow of Allen CROSS, mother of Robert, Dean, Donald and Kendall CROSS and Elaine (Donald) NASH, sister of Rosa FLEETHAM, Henry and Thomas BELAND and the late Gladys WHITE, daughter of Rosa COGSWELL & Henry BELAND, Sr. Leah was born in Loda, IL, and came to the Sunfield-Sebewa town-line area with her family as a young girl.

Leah & Allen were married for 72 years and farmed for most of those years on the CROSS homestead on HENDERSON Road in Sebewa Township, which was settled by John CROSS before 1875. Leah was one of our longtime Election Inspectors in Sebewa Township. They also traveled extensively and were active in the LeValley United Methodist Church and the Sebewa Center Association. They are buried in East Sebewa Cemetery.

BLANCHARD A. RICE, 83, husband of Mildred SINDLINGER Rice, father of Larry and Donald RICE, brother of the late Mrs. McLEAN, son of Grace ALLEN & Blanchard E. RICE. Blanchard graduated from Michigan State College, served in the US Army Air Force in WW II, farmed on the RICE homestead on Charlotte Highway in Danby Township, which was settled by J. W. RICE before 1875. Later he worked for the US Department of Labor in the Chicago area and retired back to Portland. Long active in the Sebewa Center Association because of Mildred’s descent from the SINDLINGER family, he is buried in Danby Cemetery.

FRONT PAGE PHOTO of Last class at Sebewa Center School, District No. 4 (1965): Joe SLOWINS, Judy SEYBOLD, Teacher Ariel MORRIS, Martha MEYERS, Eric GIERMAN, Toni DROSTE, Kay FENDER, Debbie MEYERS, Karen SLOWINS.

THE BEGINNING OF SEBEWA CENTER SCHOOL DISTRICT NUMBER FOUR (With spelling and punctuation as in the original). (Surnames capitalized by transcriber L.I.BENNETT):

The School Leace of School Dist. No. 4 in the Township of Sebewa County of Ionia and State of Michigan.

Know all men by these Presents that Jacob SHOWERMAN of the Town County and State aforesaid party of the first part for the Consideration of Twenty Five Cents Do Hereby Leace unto Walter HARMON Eleazer BROWN and Jacob SHOWERMAN the School District Board No 4 in the Town County and State aforesaid party of the second part and their Successors and Assigns the following parcel of Land.

Namely Commencing at the East Quarter Stake of the South East quarter of Section No 22 thence West five (5) rods thence South eight (8) rods thence East five (5) rods thence North eight (8) rods to the place of beginning With all privileges and appertenences To have and hold the same for all during the term of twenty years from this 12th day of March AD 1846.

The Said party of the Second part for themselves their successors and assigns do Covenant and agree to pay the Said party of the first part for the Said premises the anuel amount of twenty five cents In testimony whereof we the said parties have hereunto Set their hands and Seals this the 25 day of March 1846. Jacob SHOWERMAN Walter HARMON Eleazer BROWN Signed and Sealed in the presence of Lucius E. SHOWERMAN Veronica L. HARMON.

To Walter HARMON a Taxable inhabitant of School District No 4 of the Township of Sebewa. Sir you will hereby notice that we Benj D. WELD and Wm PACKARD School Inspectors of Said Township of Sebewa have formed a School District in Said Township Numbered it and bounded it as follows to wit Commencing Eighty rods East of the North West Corner of Section 13 thence West to the North quarter Stake of Section 16 thence South to the South quarter stake of Section 28 thence East to the South quarter Stake of Section 26 thence North to the South quarter Stake of Section 14 thence East three fourths of a mile thence North to the place of beginning.

The first meeting of Said District will be held at the school house in Said District on the 27th Day of September 1847 at four oclock PM and you will in pursuance of the Laws notify every qualified voter of Said district either personally or by leaving a written notice at his place of residence of the time and place of Said meeting Then and there to transact such business as the Law requires Given under our hands this 18th Day of Sept AD 1847 Wm PACKARD Benj D. WELD School Inspectors All notified personally and by writing on the 20th and 21st Days of Sept 1847. Walter HARMON Taxable inhabitant.
At a meeting of the Lawfull inhabitants at the School House in District No 4 in the Township of Sebewa County of Ionia and State of Michigan on the 27th Day of Sept 1847.
Eleazer BROWN was chosen Moderator for the insuing year.
Walter HARMON was chosen Director for the insuing year.
Jacob SHOWERMAN was chosen Assessor for the year.
It was voted that five Dollars should be raised for repairs on the School House.
It was voted that there should be four months School in District No 4
We adjoun this meeting until one year from this Day at this place Sebewa Sept 27 1847 Eleazer BROWN Walter HARMON
Jacob SHOWERMAN School District Board.
I do hereby accept the office of Moderator in School District No 4 Eleazer BROWN
I do hereby accept the office of Director in School District No 4 Walter HARMON
I do hereby accept the office of Assessor in School District No 4 Jacob SHOWERMAN Sebewa Sept 27 1847

Sebewa Sept 25 1848 At the annual School meeting of School District No 4 in the Township of Sebewa County of Ionia State of Michigan
Voted that Eleazer BROWN be moderator for the insewing year
Voted that Walter HARMON should be Director for the insuing year
Voted that John WADDELL should be Assessor for the insuing year
Voted to raise five Dollars by tax for repairs on the school House
Voted that one cord of wood be Delivered for each scollar that attends school.
Voted that the wood be delivered by the first day of December
Voted that we shall have four months of School to commence the first of November
Voted that the resident tax be retained in the District.
Voted that this meeting be adjourned until one year from today Sebewa Sept 25 1848
Sebewa Sept 30 1848 I do hereby accept the office of Moderator in School Dist No 4
Eleazer BROWN
I do hereby accept the office of Assessor in School Dist No 4 John WADDELL
I do hereby accept the office of Director in School District No 4 Walter HARMON

Received of Walter HARMON, Eleazer BROWN and John WADDELL the School District Board of District No 4 Ten Dollars in orders on the Treasurer being in full for building School House (The original log school house) and Leace of one quarter of an acre of land for said School House Sebewa December 25 1848 Jacob SHOWERMAN Sebewa Sept 24 1849

At the anuel School Meeting of School District No 4
Eleazer BROWN was Chosen Moderator
Walter HARMON was Chosen Director
John WADDELL was Chosen Assessor
It was agreed that five Dollars should be raised for repairs for the School House and other purposes
It was agreed that we Raise one Dollar on each Scholler between the ages of 4 and 18 years
Aggreed that the resident tax be retained in the Town
We adjourn this meeting until one year from this Day
Eleazer BROWN Moderator Walter HARMON Director
This may Certify that I accept the office of Moderator in School District No 4 Sebewa Sept 24 1849 Eleazer BROWN
This may Certify that I accept the office of Director in School District No 4 Sebewa 25 1849 John WADDELL

It is agreed between Walter HARMON Director of School District No 4 in the Town of Sebewa and Willard L. BARR a School Teacher of the Township of Said District for the term of two months and a half commencing on the 12th Day of December 1849 for the sum of Ten Dollars per month and Such Services properly performed the Said Walter HARMON is to pay the Said Willard BARR the amount of his wages as ascertained by this memorandum on or before the first of June next in witness whereof the Said parties have hereto set their names this 12th Day of December AD 1849 Walter HARMON Director Willard L. BARR Teacher

Sebewa Sept 30 1850
At the anuel School Meeting of School District No 4 in Said Township it was agreed on motion that John F. OLRY was chosen Clerk of this meeting in place of Walter HARMON absent.
On motion it was voted that John ESTEP is Moderator for the Ensuing year.
On motion it was voted that Eleazer Brown is Director for the ensuing year.
On motion it was voted that John F. OLRY is Assessor for the ensuing year.
On motion it was voted that One Dollar is to be raised by tax in this District on each Schollar between ages of four and eighteen years.
On motion it was voted that a tax of Ten Dollars is to be raised for buying one stove for the School House.
On motion it was voted that one third of the public money is to be kept for the Summer School.
On motion it was voted that a Female Teacher Shall be hired for the year.
On motion it was voted that it should be four months School in this winter.
On motion it was voted that one half cord wood should be furnished by each Scholler.
On motion it was voted that School shall begin on the first Monday of November next.
On motion it was voted that this meeting be Adjourned for one year to this place. Sebewa Sept 30 1850 John F. OLRY Clerk
Eleazer BROWN Moderator
Sebewa Sept 30 1850 This may certify that I accept the office of Director in School District No. 4 Eleazer BROWN
Sebewa Sept 30 1850 This may certify that I accept the office of Moderator in School District No 4 John ESTEP
Sebewa Sept 30 1850 This may certify that I accept the office of Assessor in School District No 4 John F OLRY

Sebewa Sept 29 1851
The Taxable inhabitants of School District No 4 have met to elect officers and Transact other Business
Voted that John ESTEP be Moderator for the insuing year
Voted that Eleazer BROWN be Director for the insuing year
Voted that John WADDELL be Assessor for the insuing year
Voted to raise one Dollar by tax on each Scholler between the ages of four and eighteen years for Schol purposes
Voted to raise five Dollars by tax for repairs to the School house and other purposes
Voted to have three months School taught by a man teacher
Voted that five Dollars be applied to the Summer School
Voted to furnish three-fourths cord of wood for each Schollar corded at the School House
Voted to Adjourn this meeting to one year from this day at this place Eleazer BROWN Director John ESTEP Moderator
I do hereby accept the office of Moderator for the insuing year Sebewa Sept 29 1851 John ESTEP
I do hereby accept the office of Director for the insuing year Sebewa Sept 29 1851 Eleazer BROWN
I do hereby accept the office of Assessor in School District No 4 for the insuing year Sebewa 29 1851 John WADDELL

Sebewa Feb 7 1852
The undersigned Members of District Board of School District No 4 in the Township of Sebewa do hereby appoint John F OLRY Moderator of Said District to fill the vacancy created by the removal from the District of John ESTEP the late incumbent Dated this 7th Day of February AD 1852 Eleazer BROWN Director John WADDELL Assessor Sebewa February 7 AD 1852

I do hereby accept the office of Moderator to fil vacance occasioned by John ESTEP removal from the Distric J. F. OLRY

The undersigned members of the District Board District No 4 in the Township of Sebewa do hereby appoint Lucius SHOWERMAN Director of Said District to fill the vacancy created by the death of Eleazer BROWN the late incumbent Dated April 5 AD 1852 J. F. OLRY Moderator John WADDELL Assessor

I do hereby certify my acceptance of the office of Director in
District No 4 of the Township of Sebewa Sebewa April 5 1852
Lucius SHOWERMAN

LEHMAN FAMILY UPDATE:
The elderly LEHMAN couple in front of their barn on the cover of the August issue were the Editor’s great-grandparents on Grandma LEHMAN SLOWINSKI’S side.

INTERNET UPDATE: At <thebarnjournal.org> look under Barn Stories for ours.

OUR THIRD TRIP TO FLORIDA CONTINUED by Grayden SLOWINS:

Monday, March 7, 2005, 44 degrees & sunny, 80 degrees by noon………Floyd & Grace LUTZ have been to several National Association of Towns and Townships annual conferences in Washington, DC, as well as Pennsylvania Towns Association………

Friday, March 11…………to the Bradford County Fairgrounds and its North Florida Antique Engine Show. We met a retired Case dealer & wife from Spooner in northern WI. The wife tended their hobby flock of up to 50 ewe sheep………Now they winter in FL and attend several antique tractor shows…………Nearby we met the Johnsons from further south in WI. She is a retired nurse and now a genealogy buff, studying her mother’s line, the BOGUES, of whom many settled in West MI around Ludington & in Ottawa County. We told her about Philo N. BOGUE, one of the earliest settlers in Portland (MI), on BOGUE’S flats near Portland Manufacturing Co. about 1833. She thinks he is probably a relative and will investigate.

March 12………Harold & Dolly MEIER had a home in Howell, MI, and our Karen delivered their mail sometimes, especially to their furniture refinishing business in an industrial park. Both graduated from Eustis High School in FL, in 1956, although he was born in Byron, in the southeast corner of Shiawassee County, MI. March 21………typed two pages of the April Recollector………
TO BE CONTINUED

THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Newsletter from Sebewa;
DECEMBER 2005, Volume 41, Number 3. Sebewa Township, Ionia County, MI.
Submitted with written permission of Editor Grayden D. SLOWINS:


SURNAMES: McLEOD, BOYES, HUHN, MILLER, McCORD, JOHNSON, VanHOUTEN, ROGERS, RYDER, SINDLINGER, BROWN, WARREN, RICE, RITENBURGH, FLEETHAM, BELAND, BIGELOW, SHAW, GRAGG, KINNEY, PEACOCK, FERRIS, DORNER, FULLER, HITCHCOCK, DOWNING, JOY, BAIRD, SHOWERMAN, WADDELL, OLRY, INGALLS, PROBASCO, PLANTS, GIBBS, FYAN, MEYERS, MORRIS, GIERMAN, SEYBOLD, DROSTE, FOX, FENDER, SLOWINS

RECENT DEATHS:

CORALANE McLEOD BOYES, 85, wife of Harry BOYES, mother of Dawn (Ronald) HUHN, Charmaine (Robert) MILLER, Charlene (James ENGLISH) BOYES, Geoffrey (Joy) BOYES and Margo (Stephen) McCORD, sister of the late Velva JOHNSON, Roswell and Verland McLEOD, daughter of Guy & Floy VanHOUTEN McLEOD, daughter of Cora Ella ROGERS & Charles VanHOUTEN, son of John Henry VanHOUTEN & Betsey Ann RYDER, daughter of Stephen & Elizia E. RYDER, who settled on TUPPER Lake Road in Sebewa Township before 1850.

Long an active genealogist on the VanHOUTEN & McLEOD lines and therefore a strong member of the Sebewa Center Association and Clan MacLEOD Society. Coralane was active in Episcopal Church Women, Historic Parish House Guild, Girl Scouts, Red Cross Bloodmobiles, Jury and Election Boards. She is buried at TUTTLE Cemetery.

MARGARET L. SINDLINGER BROWN, 83, wife of Wayne BROWN, mother of Bill, Fred and Gary BROWN, sister of Mildred RICE and the late Lucille WARREN, daughter of Nora A. RITENBURGH & Fred C. SINDLINGER, son of Elizabeth & Christian SINDLINGER, who settled on KIMMEL Road in Sebewa TOWNSHIP before 1875. Nora RITENBURGH SINDLINGER was the daughter of Ira & Minnie R. RITENBURGH, who settled at the north end of KIMMEL Road.  Margaret was a graduate of Western Michigan University and taught in Ionia and Montcalm Counties. She is buried in Danby Cemetery.

EDGAR ROBERT FLEETHAM, 90, husband of Rosa BELAND FLEETHAM, father of Jeannine ROGERS, Anne MERRILL, Floyd & Terry FLEETHAM, brother of Fern BIGELOW. Durwood FLEETHAM and the late Lucinda and George FLEETHAM, son of Lilly Lauretta SHAW FLEETHAM GRAGG & Floyd H. FLEETHAM, son of Nancy & Edgar G. FLEETHAM, son of George FLEETHAM, son of Richard & Clarissa FLEETHAM, who settled on what was later the BIDWELL farm on KEEFER Highway in Sebewa Township before 1850. Lilly Lauretta SHAW’S parents were Robert & Lucinda SHAW, who came from Ontario, Canada, in the 1890s to the SESSIONS School neighborhood in Berlin Township and then to MUSGROVE & BLISS Road corners in Odessa Township. Edgar was a lifelong farmer on DOW Road, the continuation of KEEFER Highway in Sunfield Township, where his grandparents and great-grandparents had farmed, after his father died when Edgar was fourteen.

Edgar was a local elected official for 57 years, including School Board member, Township Treasurer, 38 years as Township Supervisor & County Commissioner, 25 years on the Eaton County Public Health Board, 22 years on the Mental Health Board, 50 years in Sunfield Lions Club, and 50 years as Lay Leader & member of the Sunfield United Methodist Church Board. He succeeded Theo LENON as an agriculture and history columnist in the Sunfield Sentinel. He is buried in Sunfield Cemetery.

THELMA M. KINNEY PEACOCK, 93, widow of Homer J. PEACOCK, mother of Homer (Bill) PEACOCK and Janice FERRIS, sister of the late Frances KINNEY and Elnora DORNER, daughter of Addie FULLER & Willard KINNEY. She was an active member of the United Methodist Church when they lived in Portland and later the Baptist Church in Chipley, FL.

Her husband Homer was the son of Alice E. HITCHCOCK & Harlan J. PEACOCK, son of Catherine E. DOWNING & Benjamin Calvin PEACOCK, son of Benjamin PEACOCK, son of John JOY PEACOCK, son of Abraham PEACOCK & Anna JOY.

Alice HITCHCOCK was the daughter of Georgia & Thomas JEFFERSON PEACOCK of YORK Road. Catherine DOWNING was the daughter of Elizabeth BAIRD & Samuel DOWNING. The DOWNINGS & PEACOCKS came to West Sebewa on KNOLL Road in 1865.

EARLY SCHOOL MINUTES CONTINUED with original spellings (surnames capitalized by libennett for genealogical purposes):

Please know all men by these presents that we John WADDELL the Assessor of School district No 4 in the Township of Sebewa and John F. OLRY and Lucius SHOWERMAN his sureties are held and firmly bound unto the Said district in the sum of Seventy dollars to be paid to the Said district for the payment of which sum well and truly be made we bind ourselves our heirs executors and administrators both jointly and severally firmly by the presents
Sealed with our seals and dated the 18th day of April 1852 J OLRY
L SHOWERMAN John WADDELL

The condition of this obligation is such that if John WADDELL Assessor of Said district shall faithfully apply all money that shall come into his hands by virtue of his office then this obligation shall be void otherwise of its full face and virtue.
Signed sealed and delivered in the presence of Jacob SHOWERMAN.
Sebewa Sept 27 1852

The taxable inhabitants of school district No 4 have met at the school house to elect their officers and transact their business
Resolved that John OLRY be chosen Moderator
Resolved that Major BROWN (given name not title) be chosen Director
Resolved that John WADDELL be chosen Assessor
Resolved that five Dollars of the public money be reserved for the summer school
Resolved that five months school shall be kept the ensuing year that is three months winter and two months summer school
Resolved that one Dollar tax shall be raised for every scholar liable to Town public money
Resolved that one cord of wood be furnished by each scholar that attends school

I do hereby certify my acceptance of the office of Moderator in
District No 4 of the Township of Sebewa Dated this 27th Sept 1852
John OLRY

I do hereby certify my acceptance of the office of Assessor in
District No 4 of the Township of Sebewa Dated this 27th Sept 1852
John WADDELL

I do hereby certify my acceptance of the office of Director in
District No 4 of the Township of Sebewa Dated this 27th Sept 1852
Major BROWN

Resolved that this meeting be adjourned till the last Monday in Sept next at this place. Major BROWN Director

Minutes of Annual School Meting of School District No 4 of Sebewa as an anual meting of the Qualified Voters held at the School the 26th Day of Sept AD 1853 persuant to Notice Moderator presiding was Major BROWN as well as recording as Clerk

Resolved that Major BROWN be chosen Moderator
Resolved that Charles W. INGALLS be chosen Director
Resolved that John F. OLRY be chosen Assessor
Resolved that there be raised one Dollar tax for all children between ages 4 and 18 years.
Resolved that a male teacher be employed for 3 months winter school to commence the first of December next
Resolved that each proprietor of the school shall furnish one half cord of wood for each Schollar
Resolved that this meeting be adjourned to the last Monday of Sept 1854 at the School House J F OLRY Moderator Major BROWN Director

Sebewa Sept 25th 1854 Minutes of the Anual School Meeting of School Dist No 4 of Sebewa of the Qualified Voters of Said Dist held according to Notice The meeting was called to order by Major BROWN Moderator Presided over by C. W. INGALLS Director

Resolved that John WADDELL serve as our Moderator for ensuing year.
Resolved that Ephraim PROBASCO be our Director
Resolved that John F. OLRY be Assessor
Resolved that one Dollar tax be raised for each Schollar between the ages of 4 and 18 years
Resolved that we have 4 months winter school to commence the first of November next and to be a male teacher
Resolved that each Schollar shall furnish one half cord of wood delivered at the School House
Resolved that this meeting now adjourn to the last Monday of Sept next
Signed C W INGALLS Director

I accept the office of Director for the ensuing year in
School District No 4 Sebewa October 4 1854
Ephraim PROBASCO

Notice is hereby given to the taxable inhabitants of School District No. four (4) of the Township of Sebewa that a Special Meeting of said District will be held at the School House of said District on the 11th Day of July 1855 at 5 Oclock PM the object of said meeting is to establish or change the site for the Schoolhouse and also to take into consideration building anew School house. Sebewa June 30th 1855

Ephraim PROBASCO Director John OLRY Assessor

I do hereby certify that the above is a true copy of the Notice of the Meeting to be held at the School house in School District No. 4 on July 11th 1855. Ephraim PROBASCO Director

July 11th 1855 A Special meeting of the qualified voters of School District No. four (4) of the Township of Sebewa held at the School house of said District No. four (4) on the 11th Day of July 1855 one thousand eight hundred and fifty five persuing to public notice the Moderator presiding and Ephraim Probasco present as Clerk.

Resolved that the School house site be changed and located near the Southeast corner of Section Sixteen leaving it with the School board to show and perchas land site above named being at this vote ten ayes to four nays.

Resolved that this meeting be adjourned until Saturday the fifth (5th) of August next at 2 Oclock PM.

Ephraim PROBASCO Director John WADDELL Moderator

Notice is hereby given to the taxable inhabitants of School District No 4 of the Township of Sebewa that a Special meeting of said District will be held at the School house of said District on the 4th day of August next at 2 Oclock. The object of said meeting is to vote a tax for building a new School house also to determine the size and form of said School house. Sebewa July 24th 1855 Ephraim PROBASCO

I do hereby certify that the above is a true copy of the Notice of the Meeting to be held at the School house in School District No. 4 on the 4th day of August 1855 Ephraim Probasco Director

August 4th in pursuance to adjournment and also public notice as per copia. Meeting of District No. 4 of all taxable Inhabitants was held (and) after some deliberation it was resolved to adjourn for one week to a day at 4 Oclock PM being the 11th of August. Ephraim PROBASCO

August 11th at 4 Oclock PM as pursuance to the foregoing adjournment the taxable Inhabitants of the aforesaid District No. 4 met at the School House. This meeting called by John WADDELL Moderator. Present also Ephraim PROBASCO Director. The meeting proceeded to business, first Resolved that Jacob PLANTS be Assessor for the remainder of the present year to fill vacancy.

Resolved that we build a frame school house 24 feet x 30 feet with ten feet between floors. Also that we raise tax of two hundred Dollars for building the same according to law. To be built as follows to wit Sills to be 8 by 10 inches of the best oak, floor joists to be 3 by 8 inches two feet apart. The frame to be corner posts 4 by 8 with door(ways) and windows part of the framing. With a beam through the center from end to end 8 by 10 with posts 4 by 8 with proper fastening by iron plates with bolts and nuts to support the same. This to support the rafters from side to side across the center also 3 by 8 but 16 inches apart. Studding to be of baloon style with 2 x 6 (at) 16 inches apart in a workmanlike order. Resolved also that the floor be laid of 1 ¼ inch thick white ash. Roof to be pine shingles 10 inches long 5 inches to the wether. Cornish to be fir. Siding to be white pine and painted immediately with white paint two coats with all the work to be in a workmanlike manner and of the best of materials.

The house to be furnished with two entry doors with Master’s desk on a platform of 8 inches set between the doors. Seats and desks to be in three lines facing toward the doors and to be built of the same kind of wood and painted, finishing in a workmanlike manner. Slate boards starting 18 inches above the ground (floor). Chimney to be built like the one in District No. 1 and all to be done in a workmanlike manner.

Resolved to have all other matters settled by the officers of said District No. 4 with house to be built by lowest bidder to make a first rate house.

Resolved to let all tax payers furnish suitable materials if accepted by Contractor as ordered and as cash basis.

Resolved to have all completed by the first of December if the weather is favorable and if not as soon as possible.

Resolved to now adjourn to the next annual meeting.This is to certify that I hereby accept the office of assessor of District No. 4 August 11, 1855 Jacob PLANTS

Notice is hereby given that the School board of School District No. 4 will meet at the old School House on Saturday September 7, 1855 at 1 Oclock PM for the purpose of letting the job of building a School house to the lowest bidder said house to be built on the southeast corner of Section fifteen. Said house to be built on the Specifications to be seen at the Director’s house also to be made known on the Day of Sale. Sebewa August 15, 1855. Ephraim PROBASCO Director

I hereby certify that the above is a true copy of the Notice of the meeting to be held September 7, 1855. Ephraim PROBASCO

In conformity of the above notice the officers in full of School District No. 4 met Sept 7th and voted to extend the time of building and completing School house to tenth Day of June next, after which the job was put out to the lowest bidder. Charles W. INGALLS had offered the bid at three hundred and twenty Dollars to be completed the first Day of June next, which is to be entered in Contract with proper securities the same to be enclosed immediately.

Ephraim PROBASCO Director Jacob PLANTS Assessor

EDITOR’S NOTE: The above is the story of the wood frame schoolhouse which came after the log building and before the brick building. It served from 1856 until 1882, when the brick building was built a mile west of the first two. The School Board members listed came before those listed in the April 2005 issue of the RECOLLECTOR, connecting the two lists in 1854 with John F. OLRY and Jacob PLANTS each serving part of the term as Assessor.

FRONT PAGE PHOTO of Class of 1963-1964 of Sebewa Center School:
Back row: Susan FYAN, 4th grade; Martha MEYERS, 5th; Wayne FYAN, 8th; Duane MEYERS, 8th; TEACHER Ariel MORRIS; Janet GIERMAN, 8th; Patricia MEYERS, 7th; Judy SEYBOLD, 3rd.
Middle row: Toni DROSTE, 1st grade; Debrah MEYERS, 2nd; Carolyn FOX, 1st; Kay FENDER, 3rd; Lueanne FYAN, 2nd; Shellery FOX, 2nd; Karen SLOWINS, Kindergarten.
Front row: Gordon FYAN, 6th grade; Joe SLOWINS, 2nd; Eric GIERMAN, 2nd; Buddy FOX, K.; Douglas SEYBOLD, 6th.

UPDATE ON WAR OF 1812 VETERANS: Have you ever wondered why we have so few War of 1812 vets buried in our Michigan cemeteries, even though we have a few Revolutionary War vets and lots of Civil War vets? The reason is that the Bounty Lands & Land Grants traditionally given for enlisting or serving had been moved to Illinois and Missouri for the 1812 vets. A couple of survey crews working in the northeast part of lower Michigan falsified their maps while sitting in their quarters on bad winter days. Thus their surveys had to be done over, causing a couple years delay and not being ready for returning veterans.

Letter to Byron GIBBS, May 16, 2005, from Grayden D. SLOWINS:

Dear Byron,
Sebewa Fractional District No. Six schoolhouse was located just beyond the south edge of Sebewa Corners in its heyday, at the northwest corner of KEEFER Highway and TUPPER Lake Road. This was commonly called the HALLADAY School, after David W. HALLADAY, whose farm the lot came from.

Your father, A. Bruce GIBBS, boarded with the Elliot WYMAN family about a half mile east of the schoolhouse when he taught there. Apparently he attended eight grades at TRAVIS School, Sebewa District No. Eight, in years 1886-1894, then three years at Portland High School in years 1894-1897. He then taught at HALLADAY School for one year in 1897, 1898, and returned to Portland High School for his Senior year in 1898-1899, where he boarded with Mrs. John (Harriett) CLARK, who was Ann LAKIN SLOWINS’ great-grandmother. Then he taught a second year at HALLADAY in 1899-1900, again boarding with WYMANS.

Sebewa Fractional District No. One schoolhouse was located at the north edge of Sebewa Corners on the west side of KEEFER Highway. This was commonly called the Sebewa HIGH School, after Jacob HIGH, whose farm the land came from. A. Bruce Gibbs taught there two years in 1900-1901 and 1901-1902. He boarded at least the first year with Oliver VanBenSCHOTEN, whose great-grandson James BENSCHOTER now owns that farm, along with his own grandson, Robert. Note the change in spelling over the years.

As you note, there was only about 1 ½ miles distance between the two schools near Sebewa Corners. Both were called fractional districts because they also served a portion of Danby Township.

Sincerely, Grayden D. SLOWINS


P.S. PORTLAND OBSERVER, January 25, 1870: ACCIDENT ON THURSDAY OF LAST WEEK.

As Mrs. Mariam GIBBS, a widow woman living about 6 miles west of Portland in Sebewa Township, was going to one of her neighbors when within a few rods of the house she slipped and fell on the frozen ice, breaking her shoulder and otherwise severely bruising and jarring her. Assistance was speedily secured and she was conveyed into the house and Dr. Chester SMITH of this village was called on to set the broken bone, and at last account she was doing as well as could be expected from the nature of the accident and from the fact that she is quite an old lady.

(Editor’s Note: The 1860 census would indicate Mrs. GIBBS was 47 years old in 1870! Actually she was 48 at the time of the accident, because she was born April 12, 1821. Also, as you know, she was not really a widow, but divorced.)

Thought you would enjoy this added tid-bit. G.D.S.

OUR THIRD TRIP TO FLORIDA – CONCLUDED; by Grayden SLOWINS:

Thursday, March 24, 52 degrees. High today 85 degrees………at campfire I told Wally GIMBEL about the hometowns of our cousins the COSENS at Palmerston, Gowenstown & Listowel, northwest of Kitchener about 20 miles.

March 25………stayed inside and began typing this story for THE RECOLLECTOR.

Tuesday, April 5, 50 degrees & sunny, up at 5:00……pulled the electric cord & TV cable, started engine and took off at 7:10 AM. Saw lots of pecan trees and peach trees and country estates in Georgia. Corn is up in Bainbridge, GA. Peanut shelling mills and cotton gin buildings. Rivers are flooded, ponds are filled with brown water. Fields that have been fitted & planted are compacted by hard rains and parts are under water………saw a dead armadillo about 12 inches long on the shoulder of road. Found out later they tend to turn up as road kill like possums & raccoons at home. A narrow strip had been hit by a tornado, with trees & barns down and a house roof covered with a blue tarp. Temperature was 85 degrees at Pelham, AL. Got gas there at $2.259/gal and it came to an even $100.00 for first time ever!

Thursday, April 7, 58 degrees, up at 6:00, after rain in night, overcast now…………lots of soil has been tilled in Indiana, but nothing planted………sunny & nice & 58 degrees when arrived at home about 4:00. Everything looks neat & trim & homey. The beauty of travel is it makes home seem more beautiful. Return trip was 1182 miles. Total trip was 2373. END

THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Newsletter from Sebewa; Sebewa Township, Ionia County, MI. 
February 2006, Volume 41, Number 4.  Submitted with written permission of Editor Grayden D. Slowins:

SURNAMES:  McWHORTER, NELSON, KINCAID, CHATFIELD, BARK,  TUNISON, DOW, HISSONG, STOVALL, KELLOGG, YORK, HALLADAY, CULVER, AVERY, BROOKS, BIDWELL, MERRILL, STAMBAUGH, FENSOM, COOK, LEIK, TODD, STANK, SHORTZ, SANDBORN, WOHLSCHEID, PETRIE, CUSTER, SMITH, DOOLITTLE, TORREY, BERENS, JESSUP, PEACOCK, GOODEMOOT, CAREY, BROWN, DOUD, KIDDER, DAVIS

RECENT DEATHS:

   Max Elwood McWHORTER, Jr., 86, husband of Joyce L. NELSON McWHORTER, father of Tom McWHORTER, Marsha KINCAID and the late John L. McWHORTER, brother of the late Carrol McWHORTER, son of Glycie CHATFIELD & Max McWHORTER, Sr., son of Libbie BARK & Burt McWHORTER, son of Richard O. McWHORTER, who arrived at the Sunfield/Roxand town line in the late 1840s, & Rachel Ann TUNISON, daughter of William & Susan TUNISON, who arrived in that neighborhood in 1838 to take up land adjacent to their brother-in-law, John DOW, who settled there in 1837.  Richard & Rachel Ann were married in 1850 and came over into Sebewa in 1851 to settle at W ½ of NW ¼ Sec 34 Sebewa, next to Benjamin McWHORTER at E ½ of NE ¼ Sec 33 Sebewa, there being 80 acres for each man, probably brothers.  These McWHORTER farms in Sebewa were on the south side of TUPPER Lake Road at the intersection with SHILTON Road.  Both halves were later owned by E. D. BISHOP and included the BISHOP School lot on the southeast corner.  Later owned by Rachael BINNS, Richard’s land is now owned by Don CUNNINGHAM, and various portions of Ben’s land, some of which once belonged to Voight FIGG, now belong to Gerald & Janet GILBERT and Roy & Alice SPITZLEY.

   Richard & Rachel Ann’s log cabin burned in 1858 and all their possessions were lost.  They returned to Sunfield Township and took possession of what became the family homestead along DOW and McWHORTER Roads.  Their children attended DOW School near their home as did future generations.  Then Richard was killed in the Civil War on June 18, 1864, at age 36, leaving the widow and daughters Susan & Loese, and son Burt, age one and a half years, who eventually married Libbie BARK.  Burt’s son Max married Glycie CHATFIELD, who had attended SHAYtown School, where their families were active in the Oddfellow Lodge above the SHAYtown store, and in the life of that community.

   Max & Glycie moved their family into Sunfield Village in 1934 to better survive the Great Depression by running a restaurant.  Max, Jr. joined the U.S. Army in June 1941 during WW II, in the spirit of his great-grandfather Richard, and served in New Guinea, Philippines, and Japan.  Discharged in 1946, he served in the reserves until 1951.  Married in 1947, he and Joyce moved back to his beloved boyhood farm home in 1948.  A longtime member and valued resource person to THE RECOLLECTOR, he was born September 29, 1919, died November 6, 2005, and was buried at Sunfield Cemetery with full military rites. 

RUBY MARIE HISSONG STOVALL, 81, widow of Clifton R. STOVALL, mother of William, Fred and Gerald KELLOGG, daughter of Eli HISSONG & Dora YORK, daughter of Christina & Stephen L. YORK, who settled on YORK Road in Sebewa Township before 1891, son of Josiah YORK, son of Zachariah YORK.  Rhesa YORK, a Civil War Veteran in the West Sebewa Cemetery was a great uncle.  Harry and Ernest YORK were her uncles; George, John, Helen and Zack were her cousins.  She retired from Chrysler Trim Plant in Lyons and was active in Lyons VFW Auxiliary.  She lived in Muir and is buried in West Sebewa Cemetery.

 FRONT PAGE PHOTO OF HALLADAY SCHOOL Teacher & Students, District No. 6 Sebewa Township, South of Sebewa Corners, 1951-1952:

   A group picture of the HALLADAY School taken during the 1951-1952 school year.  The teacher is Mrs. Lucille TORREY, who drove out from Grand Ledge each day.

Front row L to R:  Dean MERRILL, Dale STAMBAUGH, Helen FENSOM, Linda FENSOM, Lola COOK, Don LEIK, Paul TODD, Rick STANK, Ronald SHORTZ, Darrell SHORTZ.

Middle row L to R:  Jim SANDBORN, Jim WOHLSCHEID, Mack TODD, Larry PETRIE, Linda WOHLSCHEID, Jim STANK, Lowell TODD, Margaret CUSTER, John TODD.

Back row L to R:  Leland CUSTER, Robert SANDBORN, Kendall COOK, R. Ben SMITH, Lois WOHLSCHEID, Hazel FENSOM, Alice SMITH, Edwin DOOLITTLE. 

Additional information regarding the School photos we printed in February 2005:  Alice (SMITH) BERNENS of Maywood, Nebraska, writes she was in the fifth grade and her brother Ben was in sixth grade.  A couple years before the seventh and eighth grades had been sent into Sunfield, so her older sisters, Mary (SMITH) KLEINFELT and Margaret (SMITH) TROYER, and her brother Charles SMITH were on the bus to town.  They lived one mile east of the school.  Their parents were Alzeo (Mike) SMITH & C. Louise (JESSUP) SMITH and they also attended the HALLADAY School in the 1920s and were shown in the photos we printed in February 2005.  Additions or corrections to the HALLADAY School story or any other story are always welcome.

HISTORY OF THE HALLADAY SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 6 Sebewa:

   About 1942 a HALLADAY School reunion was held at the schoolhouse with 95 present.  A potluck dinner was enjoyed and a fine program was presented under charge of the president, Mrs. Lee CULVER.  Mrs. Herbert AVERY was the secretary.  At the business meeting Percy BALL was elected president for the coming year and Ida REAHM, secretary.  A complete history of the school district had been compiled by Mrs. Zoe BROOKS and was read by Miss Lillian BIDWELL.  

   The first information regarding schools in Sebewa Township was dated February 11, 1846, with formation of Fractional District No. 1 of Sebewa & Danby, now called the HIGH School, on the north side of Sebewa Corners.  Sebewa Center School District No. 4 was formed March 25, 1846, and first organized September 27, 1847.  Fractional District No. 6 of Sebewa & Danby had boundaries set in 1846, but was not organized until April 13, 1852.  Julie WYMAN taught the first school in this district called HALLADAY on the site later part of the Carl BIDWELL farm.  Then Mrs. Samantha KING (Lorenzo) SEARS taught in her log home a mile east for a time.

   But when it came time to build the present frame schoolhouse sometime before 1863, it was back on the Daniel HALLADAY/Carleton BIDWELL farm at the SE ¼ of Sec 25 Sebewa.  At first the building was painted blue and called “The Blue School”, but the name HALLADAY prevailed.  Richard FLEETHAM owned that corner lot and is said to have donated the land.  The first reunion was held in June 1915 and every year thereafter until the time of this writing.

LETTER FROM LEANDER PEACOCK: 
Cpl. Thomas L. PEACOCK, Co. K 338 Inf. – 370 Co. 409 Train Transport Munitions 211 – Mallet Reserve

Sedan, France. Dec 22, 1918

Dear Mother and Folks,

   I received your letter of Nov. 29^th today, was expecting one and of course was glad to hear from home.

   We haven’t had much “flu” here yet, just a few cases.  It is still rainy here and cold.  I don’t understand why you don’t receive my letters more regularly, because I write at least once a week.  Did you receive my snaps taken at Aix?

   I made a 250 kilometer trip a few days ago from Sedan to Epernay and Ailly and then back again.  Started at seven in the morning and got back at 10:00 at night.  I drove a Renault touring car.

   We hear that we are to get service bars for the battles we have been in, seven in all:  March 1918, 2^nd battle of the Somme; May 1918 3^rd battle of the Ainse; June 1918, Defense of Compiegue; July 1918 2^nd battle of the Marne (the first battle of the Marne in 1914 was one of the worst battles of the war and the 2^nd was a very important one too); August 1918, 3^rd battle of the Somme; September, 1918, advance north of Compiegue; October 1918, 2^nd battle of Champagne and advance north until the signing of the armistice; so you see we have been in a good deal of the fracas.  We are to wear a new insignia on our arms.  Major MALLET was the French major in command of our service.  We haven’t any American officer higher than Captain in this branch.  Being in French service we have a French commander.

   I received a letter from Aunt Thursa (PEACOCK GOODEMOOT) last night.  Tell Albert if he insists on running off bridges, I will have to show him how to run a car when I come back, as that is all I have done here.  I have been where they were shooting our bridges out quite regularly and hundreds of times all night without lights.  If we had our lights on we wouldn’t be here now.  They come within inches of us sometimes and have made a few hits, killing some of our boys, so we surely were careful, especially at night.  We have seen our worst on the Picardy front and 2^nd battle of the Marne.

   We haven’t worked quite so hard lately, as the railroads are coming closer every day and when they get in our work is almost finished.  The Boches blowed every bridge in their retreat and lots of graded roads.  They haven’t had much in the stores here but post cards and matches.  We get tobacco and cigarettes from the commissary, two packages of tobacco issued every ten days.

   Am sorry I haven’t anything to send you for Xmas but my best wishes, but maybe I can make it up next year.  I think we will be released in about two months.  Well, I must close as ‘tis getting dark.  It’s about 5:00 here and about noon there.  With love, Leander.

   (Editor’s Note:  This letter comes to us courtesy of Leander’s daughter, Betty (PEACOCK) CAREY, thru the Bonanza Bugle.  See Volume 32 No. 3 of THE RECOLLECTOR for more from Leander PEACOCK).

BROWN FAMILY UPDATE:  In past stories we have indicated a distant blood relationship between Gaylia (BROWN) BROWN and her late husband George BROWN, which she says did not in fact exist, although both families did live in Lake Odessa at one time.  But Gaylia’s father was adopted by a BROWN family in the Flint area.  Her birth grandparents were Solomon C. DOUD & Emily KIDDER of the Lake Odessa – Sunfield area. 

   Her Grandfather DOUD served two hitches in the Civil War and was an old man when her father and his sister were born.  His wife died and he adopted the children out and disappeared.  He wrote to his son (Gaylia’s dad) once in 1899 and spoke of some property in the Sunfield area.  Gaylia’s father was called Milton DOUD BROWN and her mother was Ruby DAVIS. 

   Her parents also were older when she was born.  Her mother was 42 and her dad older than that, so the generations were stretched out.  They came back to Lake Odessa in 1936 and her dad died there.  She finished growing up there and married George BROWN.  George was a descendent of first settler John BROWN, who came to Sebewa Township in 1838 to the first farm north of Sebewa Corners.

PORTLAND OBSERVER 1890-1891:

   The Congregationalists broke ground yesterday on their lots for the foundation of their church.  They will put the building on the east side of the lot at the corner of Bridge and Church (now Warren) Streets, leaving the balance of the orchard to be used for outdoor meeting, picnics, etc.  Mr. U. B. WARD of Lansing has taken the contract for removing the church from its present position (corner of South Kent and Beers/Riverside Streets) to the new location for $75.00.

   Their new site was purchased of Dr. HUGG at the cost of $13.00.  It includes all the ground between Smith and Church Streets, half a block in depth.  It is known as the “orchard grove” where all the public meetings were held last summer.  When the removal of the church has been accomplished all the churches of the village will be within a stone’s throw of each other, and there will be little choice which one to attend, as far as location is concerned.

OFFICIAL MEMBERSHIP REPORT – District No. 4 Sebewa Township
Ionia County Sebewa Center School  Naida J. COOK Teacher 1962-63

Student Name                 Sex             Grade

CROSS, Leonard                M                8

MEYERS, Howard                M                8

GIERMAN, Janet                F                7

MEYERS, Duane                 M                7

MEYERS, Patricia              F                6

SEYBOLD, Douglas              M                5

MEYERS, Martha                F                4

WIREMAN, Callie               F                4

WIREMAN, Nancy                F                4

Student Name                 Sex              Grade 

FENDER, Kay                   F                 2

SEYBOLD, Judy                 F                 2

WIREMAN, Lou Ann              F                 2

FOX, Shellery                 F                 1

GIERMAN, Eric                 M                 1

MEYERS, Debbie                F                 1

SLOWINS, Joe                  M                 1

WIREMAN, Connie               F                 1

DROSTE, Toni                  F                 K

FOX, Carolyn                  F                 K

WIREMAN, Steven               M                 K

OFFICIAL MEMBERSHIP REPORT  District No. 4  Sebewa Township
Ionia County  Sebewa Center School  Ariel MORRIS Teacher 1963-64

Student Name                 Sex              Grade 

GIERMAN, Janet                F                 8

MEYERS, Duane                 M                 8

MEYERS, Patricia              F                 7

SEYBOLD, Douglas              M                 6

MEYERS, Martha                F                 5

FENDER, Kay                   F                 3

SEYBOLD, Judy                 F                 3

FOX, Shellery                 F                 2

GIERMAN, Eric                 M                 2

MEYERS, Deborah               F                 2

SLOWINS, Joe                  M                 2

DROSTE, Toni                  F                 1

FOX, Carolyn                  F                 1

FOX, Buddy                    M                 K

SLOWINS, Karen                F                 K

FYAN, Joanne                  F                 8

FYAN, Wayne                   M                 8

FYAN, Gordon                  M                 6

FYAN, Susan                   F                 4

FYAN, Lueanne                 F                 2

OFFICIAL MEMBERSHIP REPORT District No. 4 Sebewa Township
Ionia County Sebewa Center School  Ariel MORRIS Teacher 1964-65

Student Name                Sex               Grade

MEYERS, Martha               F                  6

FENDER, Kay                  F                  4

SEYBOLD, Judy                F                  4

GIERMAN, Eric                M                  3

MEYERS, Debbie               F                  3

Student Name               Sex                Grade

SLOWINS, Joe                M                   3

DROSTE, Toni                F                   2

SLOWINS, Karen              F                   1

 CLERK IS THOMAS TOWNSHIP (Saginaw County, MI):

   Elmer A. RUSCH doesn’t need a history book.  The straight-talking farmer lived the legacy as Clerk of Thomas Township in Saginaw County for 35 years and as a resident since before World War II.  Today residents consider him a living, breathing monument to this Saginaw neighbor area.  He has shoveled shale onto the roads before they were paved, stacked voter registration forms in his home before the town hall existed and dug graves in the township cemetery for more neighbors than he cares to remember.  He knew this suburb before it offered water & sewer utilities.  He can trace his public service to 1947, when he was named Thomas Township Highway Commissioner…………Born of German immigrants in Okeene, Oklahoma, RUSCH came to Michigan in 1937, jobless and with just $3.00 in his pocket.  He longed for something more than sugar beet farms, which consumed his working hours as a teenager.  Not only did his father raise them on his 114 acres, but his summer wages came from blocking, weeding & harvesting other farmers’ beets………His opportunity came in the late 1930s, when, newly wed to a school teacher named Erma WURTZEL, he put $100 down on his first 20 acres………He served the township as Highway Commissioner and as Sexton of Owen Cemetery.  But the community most recognizes Elmer RUSCH for his 35-year tenure as Thomas Township Clerk.  His colleagues described RUSCH as a penny-pinching, straight-talking civil servant with no taste for the politically correct.  Voters kept electing him from 1953 to 1988…….

   As Clerk, RUSCH managed the township’s finances with borderline stinginess, holding government spending to the same standard he held for himself saving for the farm.

   The pace has slowed these days for the longtime township resident.  Instead of getting up to milk cows at 5:00 AM and mixing full-time farming with a half-dozen community obligations, RUSCH jokes that he now spends most of his time in a rocking chair.  Don’t let his retirement fool you, though.  RUSCH still dabbles in township affairs.  In 1990 he wrote a check for $140,000 to Thomas Township to buy their bonds for installing water mains along Lone Road.  His involvement saved the township closing costs and bonding fees.  His involvement is also fitting for a man some residents describe as the embodiment of Thomas Township.  “He’s a walking history book” Weise said.  “You ask him a question and he’ll tell you everything about it.  He knows this township like the back of his hand.  And he knows the cemetery as well.  Ask him about someone’s grave and he’ll say “I know right where it is!”

(EDITOR’S NOTE:  Have you seen the bumper sticker:  “Have You Hugged Your Township Official Today?”  Or perhaps an old retired Clerk?)

THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Newsletter from Sebewa; Sebewa Township, Ionia County, MI. 
APRIL 2006, Volume 41, Number 5.  Submitted with written permission of Editor Grayden D. Slowins:

SURNAMES:  AVERY, SMITH, NOFFKE, GREY, POSSEHN, SUTTON, GODWIN, HEPPE, SCHROEDER, WEIPPERT, PRAY, SLOWINS, BRAKE, WENGER, LEUPOLD, CARR, SHAY, LEAK

FRONT PAGE PHOTOS of PRAY Family Residence:

   Update by Joseph G. SLOWINS.  Residence of the George PRAY Family, 8755 Plymouth Rd., Superior Twp., Washtenaw County, MI; later residents of Ronald Twp., Ionia County.  See Feb. 2002 RECOLLECTOR.

   Memorial Day, May 30^th, 2005, my wife Jody and I went for a leisurely ride on a nice sunny day out and around the Ann Arbor area.  One of our stops was in front of the former PRAY residence at 8755 Plymouth Road.  The house looked very nice and well kept.  There were a few small outbuildings, including the old pump house, which were also in good shape and nicely painted.

 RECENT DEATHS:

 ELIZABETH (Betty) AVERY SMITH, mother of Gary SMITH and Marilyn NOFFKE, sister of Darrell, John, Ron & Don AVERY, daughter of Viola GREY & Herbert AVERY, son of John AVERY, farmer & longtime Supervisor in Portland Township.  Betty farmed in Sebewa Township, worked at Hastings Piston Ring, Lake Odessa Canning Company, Tasker’s Orchard, Lake Odessa WAVE, housekeeping for several elderly ladies and finally for Victor ECKHARDT.  Buried at Lakeside Cemetery. 

HULDA DOROTHY POSSEHN SUTTON, widow of Stephen SUTTON, mother of William SUTTON, sister of Helen GODWIN, Lucille HEPPE, Donald & Raymond POSSEHN, and the late Harold, Herbert & Thomas POSSEHN, daughter of Bertha SCHROEDER & William POSSEHN, son of A. C. POSSEHN, whose family emigrated from Posen, East Prussia, and settled in Odessa Township, Ionia County, before 1891.  Hulda lived most of her life on the family farm in Orange Township and retired to Emerson Manor in Lake Odessa.  Buried at BALCOM Cemetery.

WEIPPERT MILL FURTHER UPDATE:  In the last issue we mentioned that the mill primarily ground animal feed but also made buckwheat flour for pancakes.  We should have listed cornmeal for mush & johnnycake as well.  They were not equipped to make fine wheat flour.  Many of you may not know the joys of johnnycake & mush.  Let’s just say that maple or brown sugar on the mush and maple syrup on the johnnycake helped them a lot!

LETTER FROM GRAYDEN D. SLOWINS, TO CAROL LEAK, CLERK OF TOWNSHIP OF SEBEWA:

   “Sebewa Township, April 25, 2006 – I hereby retire, resign, and relinquish my position as Trustee on the Sebewa Township Board as of May 20, 2006.  Having first taken the oath of office as Sebewa Township Justice of the Peace on April 3, 1963, serving more than 5 ½ years, then taking the oath of office as Sebewa Township Clerk on January 4, 1969, serving 32 years, and then serving 5 ½ years as Trustee, this completes 43 years in Township Government. 

   These positions also allowed me to serve on the Board of Directors of the Michigan Townships Association for 17 years, including a term as President in 2001, an opportunity for which I shall be forever grateful.  I have enjoyed working with a lot of wonderful, dedicated people in Sebewa Township, Ionia County, and throughout the State of Michigan.  I am happy, proud, and sad, but I know I am leaving everything in good hands.  Sincerely, Grayden D. SLOWINS

Cc:  RECOLLECTOR April 2006.

   There have been a lot of changes in township government in the last 43 years, beginning with the election process.  Township elections were held in the Spring from 1837 until 1968.  Nomination was by caucus, rather than by petition and primary election.  The Township Annual Meeting was held on the Saturday next pending the first Monday in April.  After the meeting was adjourned, we split up into party caucuses and nominated candidates by simple motion, second, and majority voice vote for each office.

   The ballots were printed over the weekend by the local newspaper office and delivered to the local Clerks on Sunday evening for a quick proof read.  The election was held on that Monday.  Originally all terms were one year.  From 1908 to 1968 the Supervisor, Clerk, and Treasurer had two-year terms.  The Trustee and Justices-of-the-Peace had four-year terms staggered so only one Trustee and one Justice went off each year. 

   Prior to 1953 the Justices served as the Trustees too.  By Act of the Legislature, the final Justice terms were extended from April 1967 to December 31, 1968.  This was because the Constitutional Convention of 1962-1963 had required the creation of District Court Judges, who were to take over the Justice duties, along with considerably more, on January 1, 1969.

   The principle duties of Justices had been:

(1)  Viewing, inventorying, and settling damages caused to livestock by wild or stray dogs

(2)  Viewing disputed line fences, ordering the negligent party to build their half, and if they were still negligent, directing the complaining party to build it, send the bill to landowner & township, and cost was placed on tax lien if unpaid

(3)  Performing marriages

(4)  Optional to hold Traffic Court as well as Preliminary Hearings on charges to be bound over to Circuit Court.”

OUR FOURTH TRIP TO FLORIDA by Grayden SLOWINS:

   Monday, February 13, 2006, up at 5:54, 20 degrees and wind chill of 10 degrees.  Shut off things in house and locked up.....this is our fifth year south, the first winter was to New Mexico & Arizona, and now the fourth in Starke, Florida………Since things have become somewhat repetitious, this diary will be limited to daily reports of the weather and events on the road, plus people & stories that are new to us.  That way we can begin reporting in this April issue and be done in time to report other stories & events for 2006…………called Ken CARR at home, all is well.

   Tuesday, February 14…………some good farmland in southern Kentucky, with wheat greening up………no snow in Tennessee and spots of grass are greening up………these two states are narrow north to south and pass by quickly…..Indiana & Alabama are each almost a day’s drive north to sout……we enter the red soil of Alabama; Charolais, Black Angus & Red Angus crosses, with sometimes a few Herefords.  Lots of newborn black calves and some little red pigs.  The backwaters of the Tennessee River have scads of little black ducklings……a big show-horse farm with red roofs on barn, toolshed, and manor house just north of Birmingham, AL……

   Wednesday, February 15………Saw Robins, Blue Jays, Cardinals and Mourning Doves in the campground….around the northeast side of Montgomery………Larger herds of beef cattle on pasture as we move south……same breeds as above, plus a few that appear to be miniature Longhorn cattle.  Peanut harvesting equipment and processing plants.  A field of small scraggly cotton plants that didn’t get picked…..also pecan trees, a peach orchard, and daffodils………(AL & GA) fields were starting to be tilled and a few people were raking their yards…………into the Starke KOA Kampground at 3:30 PM………temperature is 72 degrees and everyone credits us with bringing their first warm day of the year……trip down was 1164 miles……think new high-profile tires reduced this measurement.

   Sunday, February 19, 52 degrees and misty………third 80-degree day in a row………a family saw our sign and stopped by from Dutton, MI………we mentioned that Dutton is between Grand Rapids & Caledonia, where our BRAKE & WENGER ancestors settled………in fact when great-grandpa & great-grandma Abraham & Caroline BREAK came to Caledonia, MI, in 1866, they loaded livestock, farm tools, furniture and family on the Grand Trunk Train a half mile from their house at Breslau, ONTARIO, and came directly to Caledonia, MI, as BRAKES!.........met Mr. & Mrs. LEUPOLD………came from Osh Kosh, WI, where his Swiss ancestors settled in 1867.  His great-grandparents came to America with two kids, his grandfather and sister.  The man died and the wife remarried to a SCHROEDER and had seven more kids.  So the reunions include both families and go back & forth to Switzerland.  They were not part of our Mennonite ancestors who escaped religious persecution, but rather their ancestors were the Lutheran persecutors and came here 140 years after our ancestors because of great poverty & economic hardship in Europe.  The Catholics persecuted the Protestants, but when a particular Protestant denomination got control of a county, they also wanted to be exclusive.  Wally GIMBEL’S mother was a religious group also persecuted  LEUPOLDS have visited Switzerland several times and have viewed our ancestral hometown, WENGEN, from above, like the photo on our wall, and looking up from INTERLAKEN.

   Saturday, February 25, 62 degrees & rainy.  Began typing story for RECOLLECTOR.  Ann worked on her music arrangements with keyboard.  Temperature was 79 degrees at noon and 80 degrees at 4:00 in spite of rain.

   Wednesday, March 1………visited with the SCHWEITZERS from Curtis, MI, near Newberry in the UP.  He was a plumber in the U.S. Navy in Viet Nam & Desert Storm.

   Monday, March 6, 30s and clear.  Began to transcribe Ephraim SHAY’S diary and read in McCullough’s 1776.  Got another mail packet.  Called Ken CARR.  High 72.

   Friday, March 10………to North Florida Antique Engine Show………Allis-Chalmers was represented only by a couple Model-Gs.  An old International Farmall with mounted mower looked bad, but was able to take part in the parade.  An old fellow from the campground church had another Farmall in the parade…..repainted white and hard to pinpoint the model……he said he had bought an old A and a C and put the engine from the C into the (Super-)A.  He still plows, harrows, plants & cultivates his garden, scrapes dirt, and mows lawn.  He said he has an old Allis-Chalmers wrench, hex-head on one end and square-head on the other.  We think we have one too, and will look for it.

   Monday, March 13………biked five miles and got back to this typing……received mail packet……   (TO BE CONTINUED)

THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Newsletter from Sebewa; Sebewa Township, Ionia County, MI.  JUNE 2006, Volume 41, Number 6.  Submitted with written permission of Editor Grayden D. Slowins:

SURNAMES:  MERRYFIELD, ARNESEN, RAINEY, MEITLER, RUSSMAN, PLATTE, ACKERSON, CAPPS, WOHLSCHEID, ELDRIDGE, SANDBORN, GIBBS, SHAY, BOND, CARR, PROBASCO, HENDERSON, SHOWERMAN

RECENT DEATH: 

KITTY YVONNE MERRYFIELD ARNESEN, 62, wife of Ronald, mother of Ronald (Deborah) ARNESEN, Roger (Denise) ARNESEN, Katrina (Derek) RAINEY, Annette (Thomas) MEITLER, Heather (Brad) RUSSMAN, and Betsy (Ted) PLATTE, sister of Sharon (John) ACKERSON, Diane (Richard) CAPPS, Keith (Michelle) MERRYFIELD, and Ken MERRYFIELD, daughter of Keith MERRYFIELD & Betty WOHLSCHEID MERRYFIELD ELDRIDGE.  W. W. MERRYFIELD was on the present-day Luke SANDBORN farm in 1891 and owned 520 acres on BIPPLEY Road in Sec. 14 & 23 Sebewa Township by 1906.  Ron’s Grandma Nellie GIBBS ARNESEN was a granddaughter of Robert & Mariam GIBBS, who came to Sebewa in 1858.  Kitty had farmed and gardened on the ARNESEN land on PETRIE Road in Sebewa Township during their 45 years of marriage.  She is buried in East Sebewa Cemetery.

FRONT PAGE PHOTOS: 

1.  P. E. PERCY Collection - In 1880, Lima built this 36-inch gauge SHAY, C/N 6, for Milton J. BOND of BOND’S Mills, Michigan.  This was the first SHAY locomotive ever built by Lima.

2.  SHAY Family Collection – This rare photo pictures the second SHAY built by Lima, C/N 8 (1880), standing near an old-style railroad crossing sign.  This vertical boilered 36-inch gauge locomotive was built for Cobb & Mitchell, of Cadillac, Michigan.

THE LIFE OF EPHRAIM SHAY UPDATES by Grayden SLOWINS:

   Ephraim SHAY was born July 17, 1839, in Sherman Township, Huron County, Ohio, son of James & Phoeba PROBASCO SHAY.  His family came to Michigan about 1855 and settled first at Muir, near his mother’s brother, Henry PROBASCO, who ran a cooper shop and later a meat market.  James SHAY died and was buried in Muir Cemetery in 1861.  Phoeba SHAY brought her family of five living children, out of an original eleven, to a forty-acre farm in Sebewa Township.  Her farm surrounded the future site of Sebewa Center School and was diagonally across the road from her brother Benjamin PROBASCO, Sr.’s cooper shop & farm, and just up the road from another brother, Ephraim PROBASCO.

   Her house stood on the green patch just west of the latter-day GIERMAN-HADEWAY-CARR barn.  Her mother, Mary PROBASCO, not to be confused with Phoeba’s sister Mary J. or Henry’s wife Mary C., came with her from Ohio & Muir, and is buried with her in East Sebewa Cemetery, but is memorialized in a stained-glassed window in Muir’s First Christian Church.

   Ephraim SHAY was the oldest son at age 22, when his father died and the family moved to Sebewa.  He may have been off to war before his dad died.  At any rate, we know he never attended Sebewa Center School, and in fact was teaching back in Ohio after finishing the 8^th Grade.  He joined Missouri 8^th Infantry Regiment with his Ohio buddies in late 1861, serving under General William Tecumseh Sherman at Chickasaw Springs & Vicksburg.  After the war, at age 26, he came back to Sebewa with his new bride, Jane HENDERSON, and bought 80 acres near his mother, later known as the Lancey MEYERS place.  By 1867 he had 40 acres in Sec. 16 and 80 acres in Sec. 21.  Besides farming, he worked in GUNN Bros. Sawmill and held the office of Sebewa Township Clerk in 1867 & 1868, at age 27-29, using his experience as Clerk of Quartermaster & Medical Dispensary in his Infantry Regiment.

   Soon he went out on his own with a sawmill and founded SHAYtown, now a ghost town, southeast of Sunfield.  By January 26, 1870, when his son Lette was born, he was at the Sunfield Township site and received a deed to eight (8) acres in SW ¼ Sec 25 on July 22, 1871.

   Ephraim is thought to have had a small stock of general merchandise and a post office in his farm home beside his steam-powered sawmill.  But SHAYtown U. S. Post Office, where 35 families got their mail, was not officially established until 1880 and photos of the store building say “Built in 1884”.  He had sold most of the eight acres with the sawmill to his brother-in-law, James M. HENDERSON, in 1875, and the last house lot was deeded to someone in 1886.  Ephraim had moved on to establish a general store and sawmill in Haring Township, just north of Cadillac in Wexford County, MI, and moved up to the position of Wexford County Treasurer.  On September 19, 1876, he ordered sawmill parts from Lima Machine Works in Ohio from the Haring address.

   All this time he had been thinking about and tinkering with steam engines.  Sawmills had started with waterpower and advanced to steam.  But the steam engines were stationary or mounted on a wagon and pulled around by horses.  Ephraim wanted to make them movable, or motive, so they could pull things – log cars & ore cars – and in 1877 he built his first prototype of the SHAY Patent Locomotive.

   Ephraim did not have the only locomotive of his time and not the first locomotive, but his was different from any other and he was able to patent it.  Instead of transferring power from cylinders and crankshaft to the drive-wheels by means of eccentric & pitman, which had a jolting effect, he used helical (beveled) gears & sliding shafts (jackshafts) with his patented universal joints to transfer power directly from the two or three steam-powered, side-mounted cylinders & crankshaft to the drive-wheels.

   All wheels were drive-wheels, even under the tender.  This gave less speed, but terrific pulling power for a small engine, allowing them to take grades of 14%, more than double other models, and run on temporary trackage, sometimes even using wooden rails in the woods & mines.

   SHAYS produced a distinctive sound due to the rapid rhythm of the cylinders and it seemed as if they were going about 60 mph, whereas they were actually chuffing along at 12 mph.  One other advantage the SHAY had was the exposed cylinders and running gear, which made repairs relatively easy with everything accessible.  His first model had a small upright boiler with two vertical one-cylinder engines in the center, and a barrel of water on one end of the car and a box of firewood on the other end.  Later models had a horizontal boiler, offset to left of center, with the cylinders on the right.  He used 36-inch rail spacing instead of the standard 4 foot 8 ½ inch spacing, and thus could take sharp turns and the steep grades.

   After making several SHAY locomotives for use in the north woods, he leased the patents to Lima Locomotive Corporation of Lima, OH.  They built & sold thousands of them for use all over the world in the logging & mining industries.  They were used in Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Austria, Hungary, Australia & Japan, as well as in the states of California, North & South Carolina, Colorado, Montana, Arizona, New Mexico, etc.

   One last passed through Ionia in May, 1968, en route from its home in a park in Cadillac to make a movie in Chicago.  When the SHAY patents ran out in the early 1920s, the Willamette Iron & Steel Works of Portland, OR, constructed similar engines.  Ephraim became a millionaire from royalties on his locomotive - - back when a million dollars was a lot of money.

   He moved his sawmill twice more, first to Boyne City and then to Harbor Springs.  After logging ran out, he provided rides to tourists on his train and repaired Great Lakes Freighters in his machine shop next to the city waterworks he had built and later sold to the city.  All this was overseen from his cloverleaf, hexagonal-roomed, pressed-steel-plated house on a hill.

   He died April 19, 1916, age 76, in Harbor Springs, and is buried there with his wife, Jane, son Lette and his wife Katherine, granddaughter Kate and her husband Donald MORRILL.  With a bit of searching, the large fieldstone monument and the small headstones can be located on a hill in the center of the cemetery. 

   The Harbor Springs Area Historical Society has located traces of his Excursion Railroad bed in the surrounding area.  At his Haring Township farm the current owners, George ICE & Son, have re-created his prototype locomotive and the tracks to run it on, and are once again providing rides to children of all ages.  Here in Sebewa Township we buried Ephraim’s first cousin once removed, Benjamin PROBASCO the younger, in 1981 at age 96.  There are still cousins in the area, through Ben’s sister Fern PROBASCO McNEIL and her daughter Athol McNEIL SMITH BOWER DOAN.  We have permission to reprint Ephraim’s diary from Burton Historical Collection at Detroit Public Library.            END

EPHRAIM SHAY DIARY 1861-1863:

   Tuesday, January 1^st, 1861 – I had no school, staid with Uncle RICE the evening of December 31^st, 1860.  Jay HENDERSON, Dalmond and myself went on a hunt, did not find much game.  I carelessly fired my rifle leaving the ramrod in.  The consequence, I got pretty well kicked.  Stopped in Uncle RICE’S woods and fired at a mrak, made excellent shots.  Wilber HENDERSON had joined us in Uncle’s field opposite William Van HORN’S.

   Wednesday, 2^nd – Taught school, as I did also on Thursday the 3^rd

   Friday 4^th – Taught school, a funeral in the church, I let some of my scholars go.  Had school on Saturday the 5^th.

   Sunday 6^th – Staid to Uncle RICE’S.  went to meeting.

   Monday 7^th – Taught school as I did also the whole week.

   Sunday 13^th – Staid to Uncle’s all day.  Taught school the following week.  Staid with Uncle on Sunday.  On Fryday 25^th some of my scholars disobeyed a strict rule I had laid down concerning leaving school without leave to slide on the ice.  On Saturday I punished the ringleader, a young man, everely by twelve well put strokes with a whip.  Sunday staid with Uncle RICE.  Taught school until Fryday evening of the following week.  Saturday February 2^nd had no school.  Went to Havana (Next little town east of Republic, OH. Where Sebewa’s Rush & George BALDWIN were raised and their parents are buried), bought some stationary & 1 pr. Of shoes.

   Sunday 3^rd – Went down to Sherman to Father’s, returned in the afternoon.  Taught school the following week.  Staid with Uncle RICE over Sunday.  Taught school the next week and staid to Uncle’s over Sunday.  Continued to teach untill Wednesday 27^th when I closed my school, being the last day of three months teaching, the time for which I hired.

   On Thursday 28^th I collected $24 of my money.  Friday March 1^st I packed clothes and went down to Sherman to Father’s.  Saturday 2^nd I collected an order on David WEAVER Treasurer of $12.00.  Went to Bellevue.  Bought a pair of boots then returned home and went to Templer’s Lodge in Norwich.  Staid with Uncle RICE Sunday 3^rd March.  Staid to Uncle’s until 3 o’clock in the afternoon, when Dalmond took me and my trunk down to Father’s.  It rained quite hard, cold and uncomfortable.

   Momday, March 4^th – left Father’s at 8 o’clock in morning.  Theodore took me to Bellevue, left Bellevue 10:40, arrived Toledo 12:30, left Toledo at 3:12 PM, arrived in Detroit 6:20.  Went in the city to --- Hotel and put up for the night.  Took a stroll through town during the evening.  Wrote a letter to Priscilla (his sister0.  Took walk before breakfast.  After breakfast took another.  Got on a ferry boat and went over into Canada, examined some huge ferry boats.  Strolled through Windsor, returned to Detroit.  Watched a company of workmen driving tiles.  At 10:12 took cars for Muir, on the way broken engine.  Had to take a freight train to get through, with arrival at Muir 4:40 P.M.  Enquired for H. PROBASCO, found him in his shop.

   I went in and spoke to him, enquired about his business, also priced his work and conversed on other topics.  He thought queer of my being so familiar and finally suspected who I was.  He seemed pleased to see me.

   Wednesday 6^th – Brought my trunk up to Uncle Henry’s.  Went with Aunt to church (Muir First Christian Church has his grandmother, Mary PROBASCO’S name in stained glass).  Saw three elders ordained, had an excellent sermon.  Afternoon took a look through town, was at the R. R. station where the eastern train came in. when I saw Wesley & Helen FELTON get off.  I was much surprised to see them, as when I left they were single and Wesley was teaching school.  I supposed they would be married, but did not expect it so soon and never supposed we would meet in Mich. if they did.

   Thursday 7^th – Jacob and myself went to Sebewa.  We crossed the Maple River at the R. R. bridge.  Wesley & Helen passed us on the road.  They wanted to get in and ride with them as they were going just below Sebewa, but I would not ride unless I paid part of their carriage hire and that was $6.00 which I thought was outrageous.  When we got to the saw mill at the junction of the Sebewa Center road with the road from Lyons, we heard of Aunt Delores’ death which occurred on Sunday morning 3^rd of March.

   On coming to Uncle Eph’s I saw him with Uncle Ben at the barn, went up and passed the usual salutations, stopped with Uncle Eph for supper, then went up to Uncle Ben’s and staid all night.  In the morning Uncle showed me his barn stock and after which he proposed to take a hunt.  But rain settling in, we went (Jacob & myself) in Uncle’s copper shed and shot at a mark.  Frank SMITH shot a few times, I came out best.  In afternoon we went out for a while as it had ceased raining.  We shot an owl and tracked some turkeys, too cold to hunt.

   Saturday 9^th – went to Uncle Eph’s in morning.  He showed me his stock.  We went over to Mr. SHOWERMAN’S (his brother-in-law).  In afternoon started towards Uncle Ben’s to go on a hunt when Ben overtook me and said that a flock of turkeys were in a field opposite them.  Uncle had a shot but missed.  I fired at what looked like a hen, but did not get it.  We then went over and viewed a farm which Father had an idea of buying, then went to Uncle Eph’s and shot at a mark.

   Sunday, 10^th – No meeting near, staid with Uncle Ben until noon then went down to Uncle Eph’s, weather cold.  March sun shining occasionally.  Monday 11^th – went to Muir with Uncle Eph, Mother and Aunt Jane.  A cool clear day.  Went down and partly made arrangements to buy a sugar evaporator of Cook’s patent.  Tuesday morning 12^th – finished the bargain then went to Sebewa and made arrangements for making maple sugar.  Went in Uncle Ben’s copper shop and commenced a cask to use for a feeder to the evaporator.  Wednesday 13^th – Uncle Eph went with me by way of Portland to get the evaporator.  Met the agent at the Hotel, he said the evaporator had not come.  He sent to Ionia by telegraph for one he had there.  Thursday 14^th – evaporator came in morning, one of $60.00 price warranted to boil without burning from one to two and one half barrels of sap per hour.  Paid $13.00 cash and telegraph and freight expenses from Ionia.

   Fryday 15^th – worked very hard to get ready to make sugar.  Took the evaporator to the woods, finished my feeder cask, chopped some wood, carried in some buckets, made a number of spiles.  Saturday 16^th drove the hooks of about 100 buckets.  Tapped about 65 trees.  Afternoon set up my evaporator and set it in motion, met my expectations.  Made about 12 lbs sugar of excellent quality rivaling loaf sugar in color.  Sunday 17^th – staid with Uncle Eph – went nowhere all day, Uncle Ben came in afternoon.  Monday 18^th – tapped about 80 trees after driving the hooks on about 20 buckets.  Tuesday 19^th – cut down a large basswood and commenced making a sap trough, did not get it finished.  Wednesday 20^th – went up to Uncle Ben’s shop and made a barrel to hold maple syrup – snowed nearly all day.

   Thursday 21^st – nearly finished my storage trough.  Cut some wood ready and drew it to the arch.  Put a new sight on my gun and put it in order for shooting.  Fryday 22^nd – chopped some wood and boiled down 18 buckets of sap.  Saturday 23^rd – helped Henry in morning – he drew some boards for a roof to my sugar works – put up the cover – boiled 30 buckets of sap.  Sunday 24^th – staid to Uncle Eph’s all day.          TO BE CONTINUED

OUR FOURTH TRIP TO FLORIDA – CONCLUDED:

   Tuesday, March 14, 67 degrees, sunny.  Biked with Ann alone to new Tractor Supply Store, then with Wally, to make 5 miles total.  After lunch we walked to Beall’s outlet store and got back just before hard rain.  High of 84 degrees was cooled by the rain.

   Sunday, March 19…..visited at campfire with a good group of people from Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Ontario.

   Sunday, April 2, 65 degrees & overcast, becoming partly sunny.  After church in the community room, we walked to Cedar River Seafood Restaurant for the last time and brought back a box of extra seafood.  Humidity has increased greatly from the winter, and with 87 degrees it is too uncomfortable outdoors.  We plan for next year to go back north before March 31-April 1 traffic-jam and Daylight Savings time-change.

   Monday, 65 degrees & sunny.  Packed outside compartments and came in under the air-conditioner to type this.  Final walk midmorning and biked around before stowing bikes for trip home.  The pond has been copper sulfated and is being aerated daily.  Ducks are swimming and large turtles are sunning on the shore.  Paid electric bill and checked for mail………

  Tuesday, April 4, 65 degrees………got away by 7:00.  Saw ground being tilled & made ready for planting at the Florida/Georgia state line………further west corn was up about 4 inches, lots of pecan trees, more corn just up, and some was just being planted.  New legumes 3 inches high were being sprayed & cultivated, maybe edible beans, but we think peanuts, because there are several peanut processing plants nearby and dozens of clean, freshly painted red wagons for hauling them.  Also green John Deere slat-sided, side-tipping, hopper wagons for cotton.

   Wednesday…………in Florida the Azaleas were plentiful, in Georgia there are Dogwood, Wisteria & Daffodils in Kentucky.  A livestock auction barn advertises “Used Cow Sale”!  In Alabama we see Black Angus & Red Angus below Birmingham, above Birmingham there are white Charolais.  Some land is being worked in Alabama, but in Tennessee the rains have left ground too wet and some lowland fields are flooded.  We saw a house being moved on Highway US-231.  It was too wide for the concrete guardrail on a bridge.  Traffic was backed up while they jacked up the house and put blocks on the truck bed.  Fortunately it was in the southbound lanes and we were northbound………Thursday……we saw 12-15 Suffolk ewes, un-shorn & un-lambed, lying on the green hillsides after the rain.

   Thursday, April 6, 42 degrees & heavily overcast, rain predicted.  Up at 4:45, we left camp at 6:12.  Sprinkles north of Louisville brought a big rainbow before the sun came over the horizon.  Both soon disappeared, just as we turned in at Seymour Outlet Mall at milepost 50…………and Ft. Wayne, we saw 12-15 Suffolk ewes, un-shorn & un-lambed, lying on a green hillside after the rain………arrived home at 6:00 pm.  Sunny & 50 degrees.  Total trip 2325 miles.