June 30

 MEMORIAL...

Violet Mae Hicks Miller 1899-1972

This photo is not Violet Mae Hicks Miller. This is a photo of Violet's daughter Chlorine. (I only recently found this photo, and I had to figure out who she was.) 

I don't have any photos of Violet Mae Hicks, who passed away on this date in 1972. I don't have a picture of her husband, Rom Miller, either. But I have some photos of  her siblings. Violet was a daughter of Joseph Pinkney Hicks -- I always heard him referred to as "Uncle Pink". Uncle Pink's other children were Herbert, John Henry ('Jack'), and Bessie. I have photos of them.

In this photo, Herbert Hicks is top right. (The other two boys on top are Marlie Arnold and John Davidson Arnold. The men are (L-R) John Henry Arnold, unknown, Felix Hicks, George Carter, George Arnold, and David Hicks (?). The children in front are Odelcie Hicks, Rosie Hicks, and Etta Arnold. The location is Felix Hicks' blacksmith shop. Felix and David are brothers of my great-grandfather Ulysses Hicks. Marlie, John, and George Arnold are brothers of my great-grandmother Annie Arnold Hicks. Odelcie and Rosie are children of Felix Hicks. Etta is a sister to Marlie and John Arnold (and Annie). I don't know who took the picture, but it might have been Ulysses, since he was a professional photographer.

This photo is of Bessie Hicks Wheetley (left), her brother John Henry 'Jack' Hicks, and Jack's wife. (Her name is Floy, but she was called 'Bill'.) Bess and Jack were siblings of Violet Mae Hicks -- Uncle Pink's children. 

Uncle Pink married Anna Mariah VanWinkle and they had six children. The first was a boy named Travanion. He died when he was a baby, as a result of choking. Here's how my grandmother tells it: 

Travanion was a few months old, playing on the floor. The adults were eating popcorn or nuts (something like that) and a piece got dropped onto the floor and they didn't know it. Travanion got it and choked on it. That's how he died. (From Cleffie Hicks Burford)

Between Herbert and Bessie there was another boy who was stillborn or died at birth. Jack was the youngest of the six children.

Here is a photo of the Hicks brothers mentioned above:

And here is a photo of Annie Arnold Hicks and her siblings, mentioned in the blacksmith shop photo:

George, Annie, John, Marlie, Etta

 

June 29

 I don't have any birthdays or anniversaries for today. But I saw a FB post this morning about Stoughton Corners school in Hartford, and I do have some photos and information about that -- so that's what I'll post today.

I tagged my dad with red arrows in the two pictures from 1940.

The names of the children are written on the photo. They are -- 

Arletta Traver

Muriel Traver

Leroy Haney

Jim Traver 

Bill Borst

Vance Hammond

George Borst

Carleton Winch

Ruthie Williams

Roger Hammond

George Cotman

Richard Thomas

Therald Hammond

Here's something my dad wrote in his family history about his school days:

This was my first school picture, taken at the Stoughten Corners School at the age of 5.

     The Stoughton (“stow-ton’) Corners School was located 1 ½ miles north of Hartford, Michigan and is the oldest school site in Van Buren County, The school started in 1906 as a log cabin and most of the children were Indians. When I started in 1940 it looked just like the above picture.

     The school was a one room school with a big coal burning stove in the far left corner, and in the front was the cloak room and restrooms, one on each side of the front door - one for the girls and the other for the boys.  The teacher was Mrs. Dyer.  We had about 20 to 25 kids total, counting the first through eighth grades. 

     When you were in a one room school and it was your turn to have class you would go up front and sit on a bench in front of the teacher’s desk and blackboard. After your class was over you returned to your desk and did your lesson, and if you needed help the older children would help and also keep you quiet because another class was up front having class.

     I liked to ride my tricycle to school because the school was one mile away. But we lived on a gravel road, so I left my tricycle at the neighbor’s (Mrs. Welcher) just across the field from our house.  I would walk to Mrs. Welcher’s house and ride my tricycle from there because her house was on the asphalt road that went to the school.  

     In the winter I would walk to school with the Swisher kids.  There were eighteen of them, but only five or six went to my school.  The others went to school in town.  In the winter we would take our sleds to school because at noon we would go sliding on a hill near the school.  Because our sleds would freeze to the ground while we were in school, we stacked one on top of the other and would always put Ben Sherman’s sled on the bottom.  We picked on Ben a lot, as I remember. 

      I could whip all the boys from the first grade though the third, and my friend, Therald Hammond could whip from the fourth though the eighth grade. 

     One time an Indian Princess came to our school and talked to us about the Indians in the area.  They were Potowatami Indians.

*     *     *

Here's another of my dad's school pictures. I don't think this was Stoughton Corners school, though. Probably Hartford public school. His 6th grade teacher was Mrs. Lois Righter. She was my 6th grade teacher 20 years later.

June 28

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Marcus Elmer Treat 1874-1956

Marcus Treat was married to Massie Parker and they were the parents of my grandmother (my dad's mother) Christie.

They were also the parents of Ray, John, and Madge.

I was one year old when Marcus died, so I don't have any conscious memories of him. In our family history my dad wrote of him:

 

He was a woodsman, farmer and Teamster as well as a blacksmith and in later years he worked as a brick mason... He was a stocky man around six feet tall and over two hundred pounds who possessed a very dry sense of humor. His nickname to most of his friends was "Jiggs" which was a comic strip character for the newspapers titled "Maggie & Jiggs". He drove a Ford Model "A" with a standard type of transmission, but rarely used second gear. He went from first to third gears directly. He usually made only 'rolling stops' at traffic signs and lights which on occasion were frowned upon by traffic officers.

In this group photo, taken at John and Mabel's 25th anniversary, Marcus is 2nd from right. There is a post-it note stuck to the back of this photograph that Aunt Faun put there when she sent me the picture:

June 25

 MEMORIAL...

Jack Estle Treat 1883-1951

Estle Treat was the brother of my great-grandfather Marcus Elmer Treat. Marcus was the father of my dad's mother, Christie Treat Thomas. (So Estle was Grandma's uncle -- my great-grand-uncle.)

Photo: John A Treat family. Wife Martha Susan Walls, children Marcus, Belle, and Estle. 

The family story goes that Marcus always said Estle spoiled the pie after he was born because they now had to cut the pie into five pieces instead of four.

Estle married Ida Florence Deselem.

Estle and Ida had five children: Marjorie, Helen, Opel, John, and William Rodney. I don't have pictures of any of them except William Rodney.

Here are all the other photos I have of Jack Estle Treat:

I never met Estle. He died before I was born. I'm sure I met Marcus -- my great-grandfather -- but I would have been very young and I don't remember him. He died in 1956 when I was one year old. I do remember meeting Aunt Belle once or twice on trips to Ohio with my grandparents. She died in 1962. Aunt Belle's daughter Faun was my grandmother's favorite cousin and we visited her several times when I was a child. She and I had the same birthday -- November 10 -- and we always sent each other birthday cards every year until she died in 2002. Estle was also born on November 10th.

June 24

MEMORIAL...

Roger Eugene Thomas 1922-2012 

Roger was the son of Melvin Thomas and Alta McConnohie Thomas.

Mel Thomas was a brother to my grandfather Bill Thomas. So Roger and my dad were first cousins.

Roger inherited the Thomas family farm in Bangor, Michigan. 

He was the fifth generation to work the farm since it was purchased by Washington Lafayette Thomas in 1853.

 

Photos: Top left Washington Lafayette Thomas, top right Arthur Lafayette Thomas, bottom left Charles H Thomas, bottom right Melvin Thomas. 

*     *     *

This isn't a very good picture, but I wanted to include it anyway because the little baby with the bonnet is my dad, Richard Thomas. The dapper fellow in the striped socks is my dad's brother Bernarde. The other boy and girl are Roger Thomas and his sister 'Jerry' (Geraldine). My dad was born in November 1934, so I guess this picture was taken some time in 1935.

 

June 23

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

ELMER SIDNEY BAKER 1910-1980

How is Elmer related? (Good question.)

Elmer was married to Agnes Earle Carter.

Agnes Earle's parents were John Martin Carter and Amy Lorene Tamsett Carter.

John Martin Carter's parents were Ned Jonas Carter and Nancy Jane Evans Carter.

From Ned Jonas and Jane Carter sprang the whole clan of Carters who are related to our family. They had 16 children between the two of them. Ned Jonas had six children with his first wife Melinda Clingan, two of whom (twins) died at birth, and one who reportedly "fell in love with a man that the family did not approve of and they eloped and were never heard of again." Jane Evans came into the marriage with two children, Joe and Elizabeth ('Lizzie'). After she married Ned they together had eight children, one of whom was John Martin Carter and one who was my great-great-grandmother Adaline. Adaline married John Henry Arnold and thus the Carter/Arnold branch of the family tree was formed. (And Cleburne County, Arkansas would never be the same again!)

I *think* (though I'm not real sure) that makes Elmer Sidney Baker my first cousin twice removed -- by marriage. Or some such as that. His wife's father and my great-great-grandmother were brother and sister, anyway. I think. Here's another graphic.

 

June 22

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...

Beverly Jean Jones Radde

1944-2005

Beverly was a first cousin once removed -- her mother Evalee and my grandmother Cleffie were sisters. They had a close relationship, and at one time their families even shared a house that was divided into two apartments. 

Evalee and Charles had two children, Buck and Beverly. Cleffie and Lester had four children, Wathada, Morris, Bob, and Ron. 

Beverly married Ted Radde soon after graduating from high school and they had four children. 

Beverly passed away in 2005, at age 61, as a result of complications of surgery for breast cancer.

BONUS: 

Here's what Wathada wrote about living in the house shared with Evalee's family:

"1656 Territorial Road ...  After school was out that year, we moved from the farm to Sister Lakes for the summer.  It was a good summer.  We rented a big old summer house right by one of the lakes.  But when it got to be about the first of August, Mama said we better find somewhere else to live before winter came.  So we moved to another big old house at Consel’s Corners, which was the area where Napier and M-140 Hwy intersect.  The house was on Napier, not too far east of that corner.  We lived there for that month and when it was time for school to start, we found that we had to go to a little old country school that was only a one-room school and it was two miles from where we lived down a little gravel road, and there wasn’t even a school bus to pick us up.  So Mama said we were going to have to find a different place to live because Bob couldn’t walk that two miles to school and back every day because he had asthma.  So that day, we went in search of someplace else to live and Mama spotted a big old empty house directly across Crystal Avenue from Hull School, and it was empty.  So we asked around and found out that it was owned by the House of David, and it was for rent.  So that’s where we moved.  It was a two-story house and had a complete apartment upstairs including kitchen.  So we sublet the upstairs to Mama’s sister and her husband and their two kids (Evalee and Charles and Buck and Beverly).  We had family close around us again.  It was my favorite place we had ever lived since leaving Judsonia (but I still felt that I didn’t have a “home” to go back to like normal people have.  I have always missed having a hometown.  I still do).  But Grandpa and Grandma, and all their kids – grown up, married and with children of their own, were all around close so we were in the middle of the family again and I loved that."