THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Newsletter from Sebewa;
AUGUST 2008.  Volume 44, Number 1.  Sebewa Township, Ionia County, Michigan. 
Submitted with written permission of Editor Grayden D. SLOWINS:
 

SURNAMES:  YORK, CHASE, SCHUG, EARL, GRIEVES, ROBERTS, CHALLENDER, ALLERDING, ENTEMANN, DeLaCRUZ, BLOSWICK, MEYERS, CROSS, FEDEWA, ERWIN, FEDEWA-NOWIK, COLE, TEFFT, KRUEGER, DURHAM, SHATTUCK, DAY, WELLER, PETRIE, DODGE, DeMOTT, LEWIS, MERITHEW, DeVRIES, SPRAGUE, BROWNFIELD, SMITH, SCHNABEL, SLOWINSKI, STEINBERG, BANNAGEL, BIEHLER, LEHMAN, KUBISH, O’MARA, CANNAM, ELDRIDGE, BRZOZOWSKI, BRANSON, HILL, DREGER, EICHOLTZ, FACE, FARRELL, GREGIE, KEEGAN, KELFOYLE, KLOSS, MAJINSKA, SARLOUIS, McLELLAND, BADGLEY, WAINWRIGHT, ROSETH, TRAN, KEEFER, LUMBERT, TRIEWEILER, SPITZLEY, HECOX, HILL, ROWE, OSMAN, RUSSMAN, YERGE, SCHRADER, SULPIZIO, URIE, WHITMORE, ADGATE, GARLOCK, RAGLIN, WILLIAMS, SWAN, KNOX, BURMAN, SESSIONS, GIERMAN

RECENT DEATHS: 

ZACK L. YORK, 95, widower of Eleanor CHASE YORK, father of Joel (Joyce) YORK of Sarasota, FL, and Sarah (Brian) SCHUG, of Grand Rapids, brother of the late John YORK and Helen YORK EARL and infant sisters Marion & Christina, son of Ruth Ann GRIEVES and Harry Lee YORK, son of Christina & Stephen YORK, who settled in Sebewa Township on YORK Road before 1891, son of Josiah YORK, son of Zachariah YORK.
   Born in Sebewa Township March 13, 1913, Zach died in Kalamazoo March 17, 2008.  He enrolled at Western State Normal School, now Western Michigan University in 1930, and later was on the faculty for a total of 35 years, specializing in English, speech and theatre, retiring in 1978.  Along the way he taught two years at Sebewa Center and at least one other rural school, and served in the U. S. Army in WW II, 1942-1946.  Cremains were buried at West Sebewa Cemetery. 

MARCUS JOHN ROBERTS, 83, husband of Ruth Rose (June) CHALLENDER ROBERTS, father of Cathy (Alan) ALLERDING, Linda (Frank) ENTEMANN, Julie DeLaCRUZ and the late Marcus John Roberts, Jr., brother of numerous siblings, son of Helen & Clarence ROBERTS.  Born in Gorin, Missouri November 21, 1924, he died in Nashville, MI, June 24, 2008.  Mark served in the U. S. Army, 1944-1946, and was a dairy farmer on MUSGROVE Hwy in Sebewa Township, on the old Delbert (Covey) SCHNABEL farm, before moving to Tuscon, AZ, and then Austin, TX, where he was an independent trucker.  He is buried at Lakeside Cemetery, Lake Odessa. 

CHRISTOPHER D. BLOSWICK, Sr., husband of Annette MEYERS BLOSWICK, father of Christopher, Jr., Hannah and John BLOSWICK.  Born in Petoskey September 7, 1956, he died in Grand Rapids June 24, 2008.  He grew up on Mackinac Island and graduated from High School there, was employed on and owned several boats and a bike rental business, also lived five years in Lake Odessa area.  The funeral procession took a ferry boat from St. Ignace back to the island for burial. 

DOROTHY MAY CROSS FEDEWA, 83, widow of Vernon E. FEDEWA, mother of Valarie ERWIN, Tonya FEDEWA-NOWIK, Brad, Brian, Gregory and Christopher FEDEWA, Wendy COLE, Jan TEFFT, Andrea KRUEGER and Lynne DURHAM, twin sister of Doris SHATTUCK, sister of Barbara DAY and Clare CROSS and the late Katherine WELLER, daughter of Anne & Raymond CROSS, whose family settled on HENDERSON Road in Sebewa Township before 1875.  Born in Sebewa February 3, 1925, she died in Lansing February 11, 2008.  She was retired from Meijer Lansing Store, and is buried at Portland Cemetery. 

GEORGE JOHN PETRIE, 79, husband of Joyce Louise DODGE PETRIE, father of Renee DeMOTT, Marcia Jo LEWIS, John PETRIE and the late Michael J. PETRIE and Shirley MERITHEW, brother of the late Pearl DeVRIES and Louise SPRAGUE, son of Cora Mae BROWNFIELD & George MAXIM PETRIE, son of Mary E. & Clayton C. PETRIE, son of Elsie & John R. PETRIE, who settled in Sebewa Township on PETRIE Road about the time of the Civil War.
   Cora was the daughter of John BROWNFIELD and Pearl A. SMITH, daughter of Hannah SMITH, who also settled in Sebewa Township on MUSGROVE Hwy about the time of the Civil War.  George was born September 24, 1928, died April 17, 2008.  Retired from General Motors, he is buried in East Sebewa Cemetery.

FRONT PAGE PHOTO OF WEST SEBEWA SCHOOL, April 22, 1953,  District No. 3 1952-1953:

   First row on left, front to back:  Robert AVERY, Bonnie PIERCEFIELD, Lee DEXTER.

   Second row:  Mary SMITH, Jerry GRAUL, Melvin GRAUL, David DEXTER, Evelyn LICH, Linda SHETTERLY

   Third row:  ?, Julia SANDBORN, Linda LICH, ?, Arlene SANDBORN

   Fourth row:  ? , Diana THORP, Elaine SMITH, Melvin BRANDT, Wilma PIERCEFIELD.

   Fifth row:  ?, ?, Barbara BEVER, Tom SMITH, Janet PIERCEFIELD

   Standing:  Bessie ALBERTA, TEACHER; Patty PIERCEFIELD, Donna THORP, John LICH.

   Absent:  Leon BRANDT.

CORRECTION:  In the April 2008 issue, on the list of churches, we placed HALLADAY United Brethren on BIPPLEY Road near KEEFER Hwy., actually it was on TUPPER Lake Road near KEEFER Hwy.

OUR SIXTH TRIP TO FLORIDA by Grayden SLOWINS – Concluded:

   Thursday, March 20, 64 degrees, rained in night, ending now.  After biking and quilting, we met at SCHWEITZERS at 11:00 to ride with them to the Starke Golf Course for lunch in the new restaurant, and then to Camp Blanding for a tour of the museum and park, with planes, tanks, helicopters, ducks, halftracks, jeeps, field ambulances, Howitzer guns and anti-aircraft guns from WW I, WW II, Korea, Viet Nam, and Desert Storm.

   Friday, March 21, 43 degrees and clear, full moon, first day of Spring and almost the earliest Easter can be:  first Sunday after first full moon after vernal equinox.

   Monday, March 31, 55 degrees, overcast and misty.  Dude pointed out about 12-15 Wood Storks at the upper pond.  They stand three feet tall, with white body feathers and blackish head, neck, and wing feathers.  They are related to the Ibis and Egret also found here.

   Saturday, April 5, 69 degrees and overcast……..lots of weekenders in camp now.  Snowbirds just stop for the night on their way up from South Florida where it’s getting hot.

   Wednesday, April 9, 60 degrees.  Up at 4:30 and Ann at 4:45, left by 6:15.  Ate dinner at a Cracker Barrel in Tennessee.

   Thursday………Ft. Wayne, IN.  6” corn in Georgia, Wisteria in Alabama, Daffodils & budded tulips in Louisville, Crocus & Hyacinth, Robins and Mourning Doves at home, 384 miles today; 1165 trip home, 2351 round trip, our last.          END

PORTLAND REVIEW, February 1896:  McCLELLAND Bros. plan on closing out their Mulliken business and James McCLELLAND & wife and Will C. STONE will return to Portland and resume their places behind the counters of the MCLELLAND store here.  H. H. HUMPHREY, a consulting engineer, has been looking over river conditions here with a view to recommending a site for a municipal dam.  One that has been tentatively selected is along BOGUE’S Flats. 

PORTLAND REVIEW, February 25, 1936:  The following men were listed as candidates for the Homecoming mustache contest, said to be 44 in all with many being of the walrus or handlebar style:  (How many of them can you remember?):
  Frank J. BADGLEY, Joe WAINWRIGHT, Lars ROSETH, Matt TRAN, William T. SHERMAN KEEFER, Harvey LUMBERT, John TRIEWEILER, William (farmer BILL) SPITZLEY, Henry SMITH, Sam McCLELLAND, William HECOX, Abe HILL, Albert A. (Ab) WAY, George HOFFMAN, Rev. John H. STEWART, Chauncy WARREN, Pet LUMBERT, Lewis ROWE (Sr.), Sid OSMAN, Tony RUSSMAN, George YERGE, Fred SCHRADER, Charles SMITH, A. SULPIZIO.
   Also William B. STOCUM, Frank BURGER, Dell URIE, Hiram WHITMORE, George WHITMORE, Frank ADGATE, J. W. (Wash) RADER, Anthony LEIK, Lewis SCHLARF, John WILLIAMS, Frank SWAN, Charles BANDFIELD, Peter GROSS, and Edwin A. BUCK.  Byron SMITH made up the list and must have been number 44.
   Four Portland residents had birthdays every four years:  Mrs. Ernest KNOX, Mrs. A. J. BARTON, Mrs. Lloyd LINDSLEY, and Peter GRIEVE.

PORTLAND REVIEW, February 25, 1936:  Two newspaper bargains.  Grand Rapids Press daily and Portland Review weekly for $5.00 per year or Grand Rapids Herald daily and Portland Review weekly for $5.10 per yr.
   Sam BURMAN has sold the place known as the Lyman T. SESSIONS Farm of 35 acres on the east side of Mulliken Road (Charlotte Highway) just outside of town, to Cliff VanBUREN.  Sam’s parents have been living on the farm and will move into an apartment in the recently completed upstairs of his nearly new brick house behind his gas-station.  Cliff will retain his land in the PRYER-PEAKE neighborhood of Danby for his boys to work.  (Much of this SESSIONS farm was sold to Michigan Department of Transportation for I-96 about 1956.  While the other Van BUREN land, 200 acres on Van BUREN Road, was sold to PEAKE Bros., allowing the Van BUREN family to buy the historic N. B. HAYES farm north of Muir.) 

PORTLAND REVIEW, November 10, 1936:  Maynard GIERMAN, 15, son of Carl GIERMAN of Sebewa, escaped serious injury last week when the car he was driving crashed into the back of a county road scraper near Lake Odessa.  Some school children were walking along the roadside and GIERMAN was watching to see they did not run into the road.  He took his eyes off the road for an instant and the crash followed.  Thomas O’Mara, 14, of Lake Odessa, was riding with GIERMAN and was seriously injured, so that his recovery was doubtful for a few days.

THE SCHNABEL FAMILY HISTORY, 1992, is available at our home for $30.00 or by mail for $35.00.  Surnames covered include SCHNABEL, SLOWINSKI, STEINBERG, BANHAGEL, BIEHLER, LEHMAN, KUBISH, O’MARA, CANNAM, ELDRIDGE, BRZOZOWSKI, BRANSON, HILL, DREGER, EICHOLTZ, FACE, FARRELL, GREGIE, KEEGAN, KELFOYLE, KLOSS, MAJINSKA, SARLOUIS, etc.