Tombstone Tuesday - February 23, 2010

Charles(Moon) Anderson, son of Addie(Densmore) and Andrew Anderson, was born on March 5, 1925. He served in the Navy during WW2. Charles married Carol Marzolf on February 19th, 1955 in Marine City, Michigan. Charles was a boiler operator for the Automotive Industry for 25 years. He was a member of the South Eastern Michigan Conservation club and a member of the Marine City Fire Department. He died Sunday February 26th, 1989 at the age of 63. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Marine City, Michigan.

Nellie, Nellie, who are you?

A beautiful picture and a census record or two
Will help us find out who are you.
Your beautiful face with light hair and bright eyes,
I wish I could see the smile you hide.

Strong arms you will use
in loving embrace,
to welcome each child
you bring to this place.
A stately lady you seem to be,
born in Canada in 1860.

You came to Michigan,
with your family to reside.
Where you find true love
and become his bride.
On the morn of August 26, 1877,
when you are seventeen,
You marry your love,
whose name is Newton Losee
in Thetford Township, in the county of Genesee.


Your first son arrives in 1879.
He’s destine to be a Great Grandfather to me.
His name is George Stephen Losee.


Then again in 1881,
You bore another son
This one you name Edwin.
Next came Mert who joins the clan
in 1882 as you planned .

The County Birth record that I see
Records his name with a different ring,
They call him Royal. Can this be?
The boy named Mert it seems to be
That now there is son number three.

Two years go by before you see
The arrival of a daughter so tiny.
She came in 1884.
Her name is Sarah,  for you to adore

Six years later in 1890
Harry arrives in the month of May.
Which means you have
five children this day.

Between 1891 and 1895,
Three more children will arrive.
First is Frank in1891,
And then it’s Grover
who will come in 1892 to you.
Then after ten long years,
A daughter arrives with many cheers
Her name is Dorothy Emaline.

With six sons and two daughters you are so blessed 
There is so much happiness.
Seventeen years have come and gone,
Since you and Newton
wed that August Morn.

A few years later in 1898,
A new daughter arrives a little bit late
Her name is Gladys and she is so special.
But before the century begins anew
Another daughter arrives to bless you
In the summer of 1899,
A daughter named Verna will arrive.
Your house is full of children, you see
Ten in all in your family.
And each are all related to me!

As you can see from my little poem, Nellie is a Great Great Grandmother to me and listed with in the poem are all of her children. Newton would die before Nellie  and I believe that he is buried in the Flint area. Nellie would  remarry at age 66 to a man named Charles Fred Summers.  She finished he life living near Lake Station, Michigan which near Clare, Michigan.  County burial listings indicate that she is buried in Garfield Township Cemetery but I have not confirmed it.
 
I'm sorry it has been so long since I updated my blog.  It had be rather hectic. I am not sure why I felt like a poem was need for this blog but...there you have it.  It may not be the best of rhymes but it was written from the heart!
 
Have a great day!  Jan
 

Tuesday Tombstone - February 8, 2010

Ida Smith was the daughter of Branson and Emily (Kinnaman) Smith born in Pendleton Indiana 1869. She was 67 years old when she died of Pneumonia at St John’s Hospital on February 8, 1936. Ida never married and lived on the family farm with her brother Thomas Smith. Thomas was also ill with pneumonia at the time of her death. She was a member of the United Brethren Church. She is buried in at Mendon Cemetery on February 11, 1936. She is survived by her brother Thomas, sister Cora Hedger, wife of Charles Hedger, and half brothers Harry and Ernest Smith.

Tombstone Tuesday - February 2, 2010

Mae Evelyn (Boyer) Losee was the daughter of Austin Boyer and Mary Florence White. She was born in Thetford Township October 29, 1883. She married George Stephen Losee on October 29, 1902 at the age of 19 years old. They settled in Clio Michigan where they grew flowers and produce in early versions of green houses.

Mae Eveleen Boyer  - 1884

Mae had five children between the time she was married in 1902 and her death in 1914. When she died, Ernest her youngest child was one year old. Tragically, Mae had taken a load of laundry out to hang it on the line on February 13, 1914 and she did not return to the house. Lillian her 8 year old daughter went looking for her and she was found slumped over the laundry basket of we close. She was already deceased and nothing could be done to revive her.

Lillian Violet and her siblings....

My Grandmother Lillian Violet Losee was born on Febuary 25, 1905 to Mae E. (Boyer) and George Stephen Losee in Thetford Township, Genesee County, Michigan. I always wondered why her middle name was Violet. I wondered if it was Mae’s favorite color because it is mine so it makes me wonder but I don't remember if I asked her. She probably would not have known.

Lillian is the second oldest child and oldest daughter. She was 8 years old when her mother, Mae died. Lillian had been left in the house to watch the younger children while her mother went out to hang laundry on the clothes line. When her mother did not return to the house, Lillian went looking for her. Mae was found slumped over the wet laundry under the clothes line.  This event would turn Lillian and her siblings lives upside down.  Everything changed in an instant.

After Mae died, George was left with five children whose ages ranged from 11 to 1 year old. I can not imagine how overwelmed he must have felt.  Unfortunately his relationship with his children would change forever. Lillian, Florence and Ernest went to live with Mary Florence Boyer, Mae’s mother, in Flint.  Florence and Ernest were mere toddlers and would never have a memory of their mother. For several years I did not know why Lillian, Florence and Ernest lived in Flint with their Grandmother, Mary Florence while George and the older boys lived in Clio or at the farm in Gladwin. I assumed that it was because George was a farmer and the boys helped him but I wondered why Lillian didn't cook, clean and take over the household duties.  Eventually I found out that it was against the law for a father to raise an under age daughter by himself after a wife died. Daughter’s were shipped off to a female relative and George could not take care of an infant.
 
Eventually George would remarry,  and Ernest would go to live with his Father and his new wife Alice but by then the girls had been raised by their Grandma for so long that they remained in Flint with Mary Florence. They seemed to see their brothers and George regularly when they were at the Clio farm. There are a few pictures of kids together when they were small. And the oldest son Lester, attended the Doyle School with Lillian. Lester and Lillian are marked on the photo. This photo was likely taken a year or two after Mae’s death.
 

Lillian is 6th from the left in the middle row and Lester is 6th from the left seated in the front row.

 
 
Lillian is making a fashion statement in this picture as a teen in Flint. I always thought this was such a cute picture of her. It is one of the few that we have of her as a child.
 
Austin Boyer, Mary Florence’s husband died in 1908. After his death Mary Florence moved from Clio to Flint and ran a boarding house. The girls helped Mary Florence run the boarding house. I wish I had asked more questions about when she was young. She had very few pictures. Her Grandmother, Mary Florence was killed when she was hit by an interurban train in 1929. She was walking along the tracks on her way to Lillian’s house to see her Great Grandson for the first time. The Great Grandson was my Dad.
 
Lillian would lose a daughter at six years old, three short years later. Lose a mother, then a Grandmother  and then a daughter all with in 16 years.  Seems like an awful lot for one person to bear. Lillian’s faith was strong and she endured.  She did meet the love of her life during that 16 year , Everett Smith.

It was Grandma Lillian who decided that I ought to be the keeper of our family information all those years ago with that dusty old box of photo’s.

Love you Grandma Lillian!