Genealogy Work

I have been working on genealogy for probably 25 years for both my dad's side and my mom's side.  I have done most of the research on the internet as well as paying government offices to do searches and make copies.  I have also obtained previous information and photos from family members who have done research in the past.  This, however, was my first time actually going to a government office and doing the research myself.  I went to two different offices and spent about 4 hours at each one...and could have spent even longer if I had the time!  One of the pieces of information I wanted to find out this trip was the year that my great great uncle had purchased the land/house in Union City, Michigan.  When my 3rd great aunt and uncle died, the house was passed on to my grandparents (my mom's parents) and my mom and her siblings also grew up there.  My grandparents sold the house in 1975-6 and moved to Indiana.  Excitingly, I found the record of sale for the land and read that it was purchased in 1892!  This means the house is presently 125 years old!  Sadly, the house suffered a fire about 3 years ago and is in really bad shape.  I have been wanting to take some of the pieces of the house for memorabilia, but the current owner is trying to sell the house instead of tearing it down.  So I wait.  I love the history of Union City...a house across the street from my grandparents' house was Underground Railroad Station #2 in Michigan.

The white house with the porch on the front and the car next to it was my 3rd great aunt and uncle's house in 1911.  Notice the dirt road in between the sidewalks.  The house was 19 years old by then.

This was the house at a little bit later date.

This is the house today, boarded up from the fire.

So many pretty details just left to rot and fall apart from neglect. :-(

The backyard is a steep drop down to the Saint Joe River after the shore eroded over time and a couple large Elm trees succumbed to Dutch Elm disease many years ago. 

Pictures of the inside when my grandparents lived there...pretty white columns, exposed beams on the ceiling, double doors, etc.

My 3rd great uncle, Clarence and 3rd great aunt, Jennie.

The record books I searched through were about a foot and a half long and wide and weighed probably 15 lbs. each.

This is the record of sale for the Union City home in 1892. I continued the records back trying to find the original land contract, but only had time to trace back to 1867. Other information I have found online shows the land ownership to be as follows: Isaiah Bennett (1834), Thomas Buell, John Zimmerman (1838), Israel Clark (one of the original founders of Union City, 1867), Henry Hoyt (son-in-law to Clark, 1882), and Clarence (1892).

Clarence also purchased 80 acres of land from Ezra Bostwick in 1892 which he later sold around the Great Depression to my Aunt Judy's grandfather (not knowing that Judy would eventually marry Clarence's great grand nephew, Jim, putting the land back in the family).

Clarence's farm goes from the left of the road a little ways all the way to the right of this picture.

The house would have been around this spot, which is to the left and back near the tree line in the previous photo.

Thomas Buell (L) was one of the original owners of the land upon which the Union City house sits and Ezra Bostwick (R) was owner of the 80 acre farm before Clarence.

Directly across the street and to the left of the Union City house is the former John D. Zimmerman house, Station #2 of the Underground Railroad. It is also the house where bones more than 100 years old were found under floor boards in the attic. Read further about those here: Mystery Bones

At the end of the street near town is the old firehouse building...

and the old blacksmith shop.

My aunt Judy remembers bringing her horse here to get new horseshoes. Through the gate and to the right.

My 3rd great aunt Jennie turned the Union City Creamery into a profitable business bringing in 12,000 lbs of milk and producing 500 lbs of butter a day as the creamery's manager in 1902. Quite an accomplishment for a woman during that time period. Not 100% positive, but I think that might be her in the middle of the photo.

A different view of the creamery with the old milk cans on the wagon.

The creamery was off of Creamery Rd.

A commemorative sign near where the creamery used to be. 

The creamery no longer stands, but this is the land it was on. Jennie and Clarence could probably see it out the back of their house on a winter day when there were no leaves on the trees.