THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Bulletin of The Sebewa Association –
AUGUST 1990, Volume 26, Number 1. Submitted with written permission of current Editor Grayden D. Slowins:

SURNAMES: HEINTZELMAN, LAKIN, ARNOLD, SLOWINS, CARR, SHAY, CREIGHTON, LENON, GIERMAN, KENYON, CATT, McDONALD

EVERETT HEINTZELMAN did not survive his heart surgery shortly after he attended our annual meeting. MRS. MARIAN LAKIN of Clark Home in Grand Rapids, is also 90 years old this year.

G. W. ARNOLD & SON by Grayden Slowins

The death of George Carr reminds me of a story from our family about the death of George Arnold many years ago. George Wesley Arnold had founded the Arnold Machine Shop when he arrived in South Ionia with the Dexter Colony in 1833 at one year of age, with a little help from his father, Oliver Arnold. The business eventually became G. W. Arnold & Son, and is today the oldest continuous business in Ionia County and one of the oldest in the State of Michigan. I think Sanford Yeomans Farms and Dexter Arnold Farms have equal claim, but in this case I guess farms don’t count.

George Arnold had a blacksmith shop and foundry, and made plows, land rollers, dinner bells, sledge hammers, knives, cultivators, folding stepladders, and the green cast-iron frog doorstops many of us still own. They also repaired steam engines and boilers. Later his son, Fred Arnold, made gas engines, at least one automobile, and also sold Maxwell automobiles.

When George died in 1888, the family wanted to preserve their heritage and also hold true to the thrifty ideals of their Schnabel relatives. So they went into the foundry with hammers and chisels and changed all the molds from G. W. Arnold & Son to G. W. Arnold’s Son, by changing the & to ‘S. Perhaps Geo. Carr’s Sons will want to do the same.

Few of us will be as well respected when we pass on as George Carr. He was the first neighbor to offer help when we moved from the Portland Township farm to Sebewa Township. He baled our first hay until our own baler arrived. Someplace in the Bible it says: “No greater deed doth any person than to feed my sheep”. The first beans I ever saw him thresh, he poked thru a little old Allis-Chalmers Model-40 combine. When he died he had one of the three largest farming operations in Sebewa and a dozen satisfied landlords, because he always treated everyone fair & square. His work on the Board of Review was exemplary. His is a heritage worth preserving! End.

FOR OUR 1900 BIRTHS, the few left to enjoy their birthdays are Marie SHAY of Portland, Elfa CREIGHTON of Lake Odessa, Theo LENON of Sunfield and Elmer GIERMAN of Alma. Elfa celebrated with a trip to the West Coast. Theo had a big celebration or two, one at the Sunfield Lions Club and the public one at the Sunfield United Methodist Church with his son and daughter arranging. Elmer awaits the 5th of September with his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren for his celebration at the Masonic Home in Alma. His address is the Masonic Home, 1200 Wright Ave., Alma, MI 48801. A HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISH TO ALL!

We are looking forward to Edna Howland Kenyon reaching her hundredth birthday in December. It should be mentioned here that Vertie CATT McDONALD still lives at a nursing home in Hastings at well past 100 years. She was once a Sebewa resident.