tecumseh michigan
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Nineteen Years Old and Far From Home: The Short Life of James N. Jordan
In the fall of 1862, eighteen-year old James N. Jordan of Tecumseh, Michigan, enlisted in Company B of the 7th Michigan Cavalry. His older brother, William Cairns Jordan, was already serving with Company I of the 18th Michigan Infantry. Two sons from the same Tecumseh family had gone off to war. James would never come… Continue reading
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My Grandfather, the Runaway Boxcar, and a Quiet Act of Courage
My paternal grandfather, Charles Judson “Charlie” Manley (1899-1974) was one of those quiet, unassuming men who never seemed to have a bad word to say about anybody. I remember him as a genuinely good man. Apparently, he was also considerably more of a badass than I ever realized. In 1959, Charlie was 60 years old… Continue reading
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The Children Josephine Lost
By the time Josephine (Peotter/Piotter, Dermyer) Maynard died in 1946 at the age of 52 years, four of her eight children with her second husband, Lawrence Maynard, were already gone. One died the day she was born. Another died at two from pneumonia and influenza. Eight-year-old Richard Maynard was killed in a horrifying accident at… Continue reading
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The Hollow Log: A Manley Family Tragedy
Sometimes the smallest newspaper clipping can reveal a moment of unimaginable heartbreak in an ancestor’s life. In April 1840, my 4X great grandfather, Howard Manley (1791-1852), was living with his family near Rochester, New York when an ordinary day splitting wood lead to a discovery inside a hollow log. What initially must have seemed like… Continue reading
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“Failure of the Power of Life”
In my 15 years of researching ancestors, I’ve viewed many death certificates, some are for family who lived before my time and some were peripheral connections. When Martha Elizabeth (Richart) Herriott died in Tecumseh, Michigan on April 15, 1910 she was 84 years old – an impressive age for a woman born in 1825. Her… Continue reading
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Before They Were Old: A Love Story in Photographs
When I remember my paternal great grandmother, Florence Nightingale (Gurin) Maynard (1883-1970) I remember an old woman. As I was only 8 years old when she passed, I didn’t even fully understand our relationship: that she was my great grandmother, mother to my paternal grandmother, only that she was elderly and we called her ‘Grandma… Continue reading
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Soldier Boys at Twelve: The Civil War Story of My Seekell Cousins
Some family stories are discovered one record at a time. Others practically leap off the page and demand to be told. That was the case when I stumbled across the story of my distant cousins, twin brothers Charles Leslie Seekell (1849-1925) and James Wesley Seekell (1849-1914). In 1861 when most twelve-year old boys are still… Continue reading
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The Handy Family of Tecumseh: It’s Complicated
For the sake of genealogy research I am very fortunate that many of my paternal lines after the mid-1800s resided in Lenawee County, Michigan, the county adjacent to where I live. Logistically, I am easily able to visit the local libraries, historical museums, and cemeteries to gather information and build family stories. Where it gets… Continue reading
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Lottie Packard: Twice Widowed, Mother of Ten, and a Birth Certificate That Raised More Questions Than it Answered
When I first came across Charlotte ‘Lottie’ Packard (1870-1952), she wasn’t my ancestor. She wasn’t even related to me by blood or marriage. In fact, I almost skipped past her entirely. Then I started reading the records. One document lead to another until the outline of an extraordinary life slowly emerged – a young wife,… Continue reading
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In Grandma’s Own Words: The Memories of Elizabeth (Maynard) Manley (1907-1998)
As a child growing up 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… Continue reading
Tiny Acorns & Mighty Oaks 