Farming in Michigan in the 1880s

Posted on by farlane


Antrim County Farm, 1889, photo courtesy Seeking Michigan

The good folks at Seeking Michigan dug this gem for me and it’s one of those that you just have to check out bigger.

Teaching Michigan History is just one of many of great online features from the apparently soon-to-disappear Michigan Department of History, Arts & Libraries. Read about how this freaks out historians that this incredible cultural resource is being scrapped to save 2 million dollars and see Facebook for efforts to save HAL. They published this cool Excerpt from Charles Estep’s Farm Diary, August 1884 that gives a look at the difficult life of a farmer at the turn of the century in Michigan. It begins:

Nineteenth century farmers often kept hand-written diaries of their farming activities: planting, raising and harvesting crops. The following is an August 1884 excerpt from Charles Estep’s “Farm Diary 1883-1886.” His farm on Musgrove Highway later became the Fred Bulling Farm in Sebewa Township, Ionia County, Michigan. Today, farmers often keep track of their crops on computers. Historians and scientists use diaries and computer print-outs to study farming practices and trends over time.

Since I have no idea how long these materials will stay online if HAL is dissolved, here’s a few excerpts from the excerpt:

Friday, August 1st, 1884. Perry cut some oats yesterday. He came over this morning. I went out and found they were too green and got him to wait until next week. I worked in the corn a little and bound up some oats.

Tuesday, 5th. A little showery this forenoon. I handled over some manure. Perry helped me part of the forenoon. Afternoon he cut and I bound oats.

Friday, 8th. Perry finished cradling the oats today. I went to Portland to take my teeth to have them fixed over. They are worse than ever they were. He is going to reset them again. Ella Estep rode out to Father’s with me.

Friday, 15th. I did but little today. I finished the oat stack, marked out a headland, set a stump on fire and the fire ran all over the piece. In the afternoon my head ached, so I did not work.

Tuesday, 19th. Today I plowed and picked up stone. I am plowing my oat stubble. The weather is very warm and very dry.

Thursday, 21st. I went down home and helped thresh part of the day. The rest I picked stone and plowed. Father and Bion had 971 bushels of wheat.

Friday, 22nd. I picked up a load of stone and plowed today.

Saturday, 23rd. Foe was sick all night last night. After breakfast I went down and got Mrs. VanHouten to come and see her. She said we had better send for a doctor right away, so I went down home and started Bion after the doctor and got Mother. Then I went and got Mrs. D. Leak. In the meantime Mrs. Olry came. Dr. Smith came at two o’clock. At about four o’clock our baby was born, a bouncing healthy boy of 8 and 3/4 pounds. Foe was very sick, indeed. Mother stays all night.

Thursday, 28th. I was down to Mr. Ralstons and borrowed a baby crib. I borrowed a drag down home. I went out and dragged a while. It commenced to rain too hard to work most of the time. I went and got Mrs. D. Leak to come and dress the baby.

Click to read more entries.

Afton…now and then

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Afton...now and then

Afton…now and then, photo by smartee_martee.

Marty writes:

21 September 2008; Afton, Michigan.

The postcard is postmarked Sept 2, 1920.

Patrick O’Connor opened a lumber camp in Ellis Township in 1887. Ellisville was the name given to its first post office in 1905. It was asked to be renamed Afton, for that it was thought to resemble Afton in Scotland because of the Pigeon River flowing nearby. It was officially Afton on Feb. 12, 1906.

This photo is part of Marty’s amazing Overnight Photo Trip September 2008 (slideshow). He drove nearly 2000 miles through northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, chronicling small towns, hamlets and crossings.

Night and Day Fountain in Port Huron

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Day & Night Diptych

Day & Night Diptych, photo by jrde3.

Here’s a few more views of this sculpture and also check out Jonathan’s Port Huron, MI set (slideshow).

The sculptures are located at McMorran Place in Port Huron where they explain that noted sculptor Marshall Fredericks:

…designed these over-life sized figures for the NIGHT AND DAY FOUNTAIN outside of the McMorran Auditorium in Port Huron. The fountain is beneath the 22 ft. diameter sculptural clock, which was also designed by Fredericks. He chose time as the theme of the auditoriums exterior ornamentation because the donors of the building put great value in punctuality. In keeping with the long tradition on western art, the sculptor personified time with figures representing night and day.

Check out more work by Marshall Fredericks on Michigan in Pictures.

Chelsea Michigan turns 175 … but where is all the history?

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures
Chelsea Train Station by Jeff & Leyla

Chelsea Train Station by Jeff & Leyla

Chelsea, Michigan holds its 175th Anniversary Celebration June 25-28 with 4 days of events including a parade, youth activities, contests, music and folks in period costumes – family oriented fun.

This is the space where I would normally tell you something about the history of the town, but even the Wikipedia entry for Chelsea, Michigan has almost nothing. The city of Chelsea has little to say. They did have a link to the Washtenaw County guide entry for Chelsea where I learned:

Chelsea was first settled in 1820 by Cyrus Beckwith, along with Elisha and James Congdon.

Elisha Congdon named the community after his hometown of Chelsea, Massachusetts.

The town was literally “put on the map” when the Michigan Central Railroad built a station here in 1850. UPDATE: Searched for the railroad and found a great Chelsea history page.

Today Chelsea is best known as the home of the DaimlerChrysler Proving Ground and of Chelsea Milling Company’s “Jiffy Mix” brand.

Any other facts or links about Chelsea? Share them in the comments!

Jeff says that left to right you’re seeing the Chelsea Train depot (for rent), Jiffy, the Chelsea Clocktower and the Glazier Stove Co. It’s part of his Chelsea & Dexter set (slideshow). Speaking of slideshows, here’s the Chelsea slideshow from the Absolute Michigan pool.

You can check out some photos of the Glazier Stove Company from the Library of Congress.

Strawberry Season, 1940

Posted on by farlane

Migrant girl, strawberry picker, Berrien County, Mich.
Migrant girl, strawberry picker, Berrien County, Mich., photo by John Vachon

Today’s photo from summer of 1940 is courtesy the Library of Congress. Be sure to check it out bigger and try a search for Michigan Strawberries to see more shots from Berrien County’s strawberry farms.

Ann Arbor blogger (and certified Michiganhead) Edward Vielmetti notes that strawberry season in underway in southern Michigan. He’ll post a field report when he goes! You can get all kinds of information and recipes about these tasty treats at Michigan Strawberries Are Ready to Pick on Absolute Michigan.

Ernest Hemingway fishing and a river of Michigan postcards

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Young Ernest Hemingway fishing in Horton's Creek, near Walloon Lake, Michigan

Young Ernest Hemingway fishing in Horton’s Creek, near Walloon Lake, Michigan, photo by UpNorth Memories – Donald (Don) Harrison.

I thought about titling this post “Why Ernest Hemingway Became Such a Tough Guy” – this is the kind a photo your mom pulls out and shows your girlfriend when you’re 16. Check out
this Hemingway fishing slideshow and also this feature on Hemingway’s youth on Absolute Michigan.

If you love Michigan history, you will love Don Harrison’s Up North Memories. Don has nearly 10,000 postcards scanned in and available for viewing and (in some cases) for sale in his eBay store. One way to explore them is through Flickriver.

Enjoy the weekend!!

It’s Surprising Anything Gets Done Around Here

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

It's Surprising Anything Gets Done Around Here

It’s Surprising Anything Gets Done Around Here, photo by MightyBoyBrian.

You can take a look bigger (The Urban slideshow) and see this in context right here.

Exposure Detroit May 2009 Show

Posted on by farlane

Hallway on a Tilt
Hallway on a Tilt, photo by Cherie S.

The photography group Exposure.Detroit will hold the opening for their May 2009 show tomorrow night (Friday, May 8th) from 7-10 PM at the Bean & Leaf Cafe in Royal Oak.

In addition to Cherie Stangis, the show features work from Mark Orlowski, Patrick Simpson, Alanna St. Laurent and Christian Spencer.

Check out a bunch more cool B&W shots in Cherie’s Inanimate in Black and White set (slideshow).

Women’s Suffrage in Michigan

Posted on by farlane

michigan-womens-suffrage-tent

Woman Suffrage Tent, 1912 Michigan State Fair, courtesy the Archives of Michigan

March is Women’s History Month in Michigan and this month’s Image of the Month from the Archives of Michigan tells of the arduous but eventually successful process that eventually secured the right to vote for women in Michigan with the ratification of the nineteenth amendment in 1919 (Michigan was one of the first 3 states to ratify).

In Michigan, that struggle spanned at least seven decades. In 1846, a woman named Ernestine Rose spoke to the Michigan legislature about the need for woman suffrage. This was two years before the first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. In 1849, a Michigan state Senate committee proposed a “universal suffrage” amendment to the Michigan constitution. This would have granted voting rights to both women and African Americans, but no action was taken on the proposal. A woman suffrage bill did not come before the state legislature again until 1866. It was defeated by only one vote.

Click through to read the rest of a struggle that spanned lifetimes.

Boating the Straits of Mackinac with the Stempkis

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Mackinac Bridge

Mackinac Bridge, photo by Ross Nave.

#737 on the list of Fun Things You Could Do in Michigan This Weekend is Boating with the Stempkis!

Be sure to check this photo out bigger and here’s Ross’s Michigan slideshow.

Hope your weekend is great!!