As a child in the 1960s and 1970s I have fond memories of visiting my paternal grandparents in Tecumseh, Michigan. A couple of Sundays a month, my dad would load my mom and the children (my brothers, Jeff, Stephen, and I) into the car and make the 45-minute drive north from Toledo, Ohio and we’d spend the day at their house on Kilbuck Street. While the adults chatted, we would often wander the few streets from their house to the main street in Tecumseh and browse the small-town shop windows.

My Grandmother, a lifelong member of the Friends (Quaker) church, attended the Sunday morning service, came home to prepare a supper and visit with us, and then returned for a second service in the evening. Being a very religious woman, my Grandmother also never bought anything on Sundays, whether it be a trip to the local grocery or if we had pamphlets for school fund raising they were put aside.

My older brother and I enjoyed playing board games with my Grandmother who was, by nature, very competitive. I recall she was very good at Chinese checkers and loved the card game Racko which we played seated at her large dining room table. One Sunday during a game of Chinese checkers one of us kids bumped the board which dislodged the marbles from their holes and sent them bouncing onto the floor and then rolling towards the floor vents. As we scrambled to retrieve them, my older brother, Jeff suddenly yelled ‘oh no, Grandma’s losing her marbles!’.

At the house on Kilbuck Street, which was built shortly after the Civil War and where they raised their family, my Grandmother had a large backyard and while it had no fence, she had beautifully cultivated a border of flowers around the perimeter which she meticulously tended.

My Grandmother gave birth to my father, Robert J. Manley (1938-2024) in that home, with the assistance of a local nurse.

When my Grandfather, Charles Judson Manley passed in 1974, my Grandmother would spend her days with her very close friend, Lois Johnson and others. On summer evenings, my Grandmother and her friends would often gather and have a potluck-style dinner on her screened-in front porch. One thing I vividly remember is how, at every dinner, she would have a small crudités plate that often included radishes, celery, and mini sweet pickles.

I am very (very) fortunate that my Grandmother, later in life, wrote down a few of her memories of her life that my cousin, Vickie, transcribed. Below are the words of Elizabeth Blanche (Maynard) Manley telling her story.

In places I’ve added clarification which I’ve italicized the test to indicate they are my notes versus my Grandmother’s.

This is the story of my life as remember it, not having kept any diary. I was born on Joe and North McKenzie Street (Adrian, Lenawee County, Michigan) on the North side to Leon Maurice and Florence Nightingale Maynard. Grandma Melissa and Grandpa William Gurin and Uncle Ben lived at 2477 N. McKenzie. Grandpa Gurin (1834-1916) went to the Veteran home in Dayton, Ohio as he was a Civil War Calvary man and was shot in the foot. I remember his funeral, while Ruth was still a baby. We were living on a farm near Macon (Lenawee County, Michigan) at the time and she cried all the time we were there as she wasn’t used to so many strangers around. The funeral service was at the Armory in Adrian.

(Note: William Gurin died in 1916, therefore, Ruth was about one year old while Elizabeth was about 9 years old.)

We moved from Adrian to our great aunt’s house on Pearl Street, Tecumseh when Mildred was around a year old. I was 2 years 3 months older than Mildred. Her birthday was May 7, 1909, I was born Feb. 11, 1907. The home in Tecumseh is still on N. Pearl Street, first block from Chicago Blvd. The Methodist church was right on the corner with the back of the church next to our house. The church has since been torn down and the Presbyterian uses the lot for parking.

Across the street on the corner of Chicago Blvd. and N. Pearl was the Coller House, a hotel, fenced in with wrought iron fence and a fountain in the front yard, next to it was the Opera House. Down the Blvd. was Avery’s Grocery Store, where we bought our groceries. There was also the Ida Chase ten cent store.

(Note: Ida who owned the store was Ida B. Chase. Ida’s brother, Fred Chase would marry Ida Travis. After Ida (Travis) Chase divorced Fred she marries James Judson Manley and their son is Charles Judson Manley. When Elizabeth marries my grandfather, Charles Manley, Ida and James Manley would become Elizabeth’s in-laws. Small towns are well known for ‘everyone being connected’ in some way and this case was no exception. At one time in Tecumseh there were two Ida Chase’s, they were sister-in-laws until Ida Travis Chase remarried).

One evening mother sent me to the grocery store for something, I became interested in something along the way and mother came to look for me. That was when parents were really concerned for their children.

Dad worked a small farm for Dr. Hendershot on the Tecumseh/Clinton Road. He also kept Mr. Fitzsimen’s car going and other chores for him. He took mother and Aunt Blanche for a ride when he was taking the car out for a run.

The dentist Dr. Reed, lived 2 houses west from the Methodist Church. He took his children & Mildred & me for a ride to Clinton and back in his car. Mildred had her tonsils taken out and while at it, I should have mine out too. So 3 doctors were engaged Dr. Hendershot, Dr. Conklin and Dr. Hardy. The operations were performed on the Kitchen table, with the help of a nurse of some sort, Mary Allen. We both recovered very well.

I went to the West Branch School, can’t remember who my teacher was, but we moved when I was 8 years to the farm on what is Pennington, Rd. Now but a Rural Route, then it set back from the road 1/4 of a mile. Dad rented the farm from a man named Mr. Oven, who lived in Dearborn I think. When all the crops were harvested, he came and he and dad would divide up what they had. Seem like there never was any money left.

Grandpa Maynard (this would be Thomas Maynard) lived with us from the day we moved to the country. He was a widower, Dad’s mother died when he was 13 years old and he had to quit school and go to work. Grandpa’s sister, Martha married a man named Rising. They had one child who died in infancy and then her husband died and she went to work for
Mrs. Wm. Fisher who owned the Tecumseh Gravel Company. His wife wasn’t well and Aunt “Mernie” Martha cooked and kept house for them and when she died she left some money to Grandpa, Aunt Florence and Dad. Uncle Lawrence didn’t get anything, he had borrowed plenty from her.

Dad and Grandpa invested in the farm, to buy machinery and such.
Mildred and I went to the Mills-Macon school which was a mile from home. To keep warm the cold winter days we wore long legged underwear folded over so that we could get on our black stockings, hooked to our home made waists with elastic. Our Dad never could leave his work long enough to take us to school which would mean hooking the horses to the buggy.

The school is still standing and some folks were going to renovate it, but there wasn’t enough money to do so. Wilma Schoemaster (sic) one of my classmates said she wrote in her diary that 27 students attended school at one time. We sat in double seats. I don’t remember my mate.

One day one of the pupils was caught throwing a spit ball, so that whole
row had to stay in at recess and throw spit balls down the aisle. Our teacher for a good many years Elva Richard, lived on Ford Road in Macon and walked from there thru Macon, east to Mills Hwy. down that road to the school corner of Mills and Pennington Road, also start the fire in the pot bellied stove to get the room warm for us kids when we got to school. She was a wonderful teacher, but never got married.

In 1918, the first World War was at it’s worse, and we learned to knit by Red Cross standards. At one time some one showed some of us how to crochet a sweater for our dolls. Same was I also learned to crochet, and when dad on occasion went cross lots to Macon after the chores were done to the Macon Grocery to being a gunny sack of groceries, he brought me a treat of crochet thread. When he paid the bill he would get a sack of candy.

However, Mother was a good cook, and at Christmas she made several kinds of candy, including a taffy pull. Once when Ruth was a baby, Mildred thought Ruth should have a piece of taffy to lick, it slipped out of Mildred’s hand, but mother recovered it before she choked on it.

Around 1918 during the 1st world war, the “Flu” hit the whole world, even soldiers in combat. One of the Macon soldier boys died of the Flu in France. Of course, it hit home. I got it first, then Mildred. By that time our neighbor died from the flu and complications and mother got the Doctor for Mildred. We all had it hard, Ruth, a baby and Grandpa (Thomas Mayanrd), who said he was too slow for it and Ruth a baby to fast for it.

Our neighbor, (name illegible) a farmer for Mark Mills, left a family – wife and four children. Dad was one of the neighbors helped Mrs. Gregy move to Tecumseh. No welfare in those days and she kept her family going cleaning houses and doing laundry.

One of our nearest neighbors was Dill Burleson, who inherited his farm and one of the school board members. Mildred and I watched cows down on the road as there was no pasture on the farm. One day the herd of cattle over the fence had a bull in with them and when he saw our herd came over our way to investigate. I got scared and left Mildred and went to the barn to get dad. I guess he took the cows back home. We always had to watch the cows till they were satisfied and quit eating and laid down to rest, then we could take them home.

Our other neighbor was Mills Hatch, whose wife, Persis, was killed in a buggy accident. I remember he drank too much and had two Alaskan dogs. Mildred and I had to go to his place on an errand and the dogs came out to great us and of course we were scared to death. Mrs. Hatch finally came to the door and that crisis was passed.

The other neighbor the Listers Rays. Lister had a beautiful daughter about two years old, who became ill, high fever, and I remember her mother in no way could have seen her daughter die. She eventually recovered but her mind was gone. I don’t expect the Doctor knew what to do for her in the first place. Eventually, she went to the children’s home in Coldwater.