Sebewa Recollector
Items of Genealogical Interest

Volume 45 Number 1
Transcribed by LaVonne I. Bennett


     LaVonne has received permission from Grayden Slowins to edit and submit Sebewa Recollector items of genealogical interest, from the beginning year of 1965 through current editions.


THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Newsletter from Sebewa; Sebewa Township, Ionia County, MI.  August 2009, Volume 45, Number 1.  Submitted with written permission of Editor Grayden D. Slowins: 
 

SURNAMES:  INGRAHAM, HERLING, DeLAVERGNE, AUSTIN, RISCHOW, BARRUS, ROGERS, WHITMAN, FLETCHER, MORSE


FRONT PAGE PHOTO:  Muskegon County Court House, Muskegon, Michigan.  In 1994-2004 we ran a series of photos of county court houses in Michigan, and a few from other states, but never finished.  We resume with Muskegon County, but having lost our photo, this one comes from Internet.  Another Website shows it somewhat different, but this one best represents what we saw.


RECENT DEATH:  Edys A. (Susie) INGRAHAM DeLAVERGNE HERLING, 86, widow of Leland HERLING, stepmother of Jerry (Kathy) HERLING, daughter of Frank INGRAHAM & Myrtle HYLAND INGRAHAM, daughter of Charles HYLAND, son of Sarah E. HYLAND , early settler in Orange Township on a twenty-acre chunk cut off by the creek, across Portland Road from Charles, Warren, Donald and Larry ROGERS.

   Edys was born August 15, 1922, in Portland, and graduated from Portland High School.  Her mother, Myrtle, married Clarence DeLAVERGNE when Edys was about 7 years old.  About 1938 or 1939, Edys took Grayden SLOWINGS (Editor), age 6 or 7, to walk in the Decoration Day (now Memorial Day) parade in Portland.  The parade, led by Dr. John D. BRADFIELD, veteran of both Spanish-American War and World War we understand, on his white horse, began at Powers Park, crossed the upper bridge, where a wreath was dropped in the water in memory of Navy dead, went on up the hill to Portland Cemetery for a ceremony at the Civil War Monument. 

   We had both iris and peonies in bloom at the same time that year to use in decorating graves.

   On January 9, 1946, Edys married Leland HERLING and he preceded her in death on May 12, 1982.  They started a party store that became The Wagon Wheel, on the north side of Grand River Ave., and the next owner moved across to south after the 1967 tornado.  Edys lived in Pewamo, retired from Greenville Products in 1978, and died July 6, 2009; interment in Evergreen Cemetery, Sheridan.


PORTLAND REVIEW, MICHIGAN; November 24, 1949:  Mrs. Orrin AUSTIN, 63, died in Sebewa Friday night, after months of illness; burial at Mulliken.  The husband survives, as do the following children:  Wayne AUSTIN, Portland, employed by the municipal water department; Charles AUSTIN, Sebewa; Mrs. Laura PROCTOR, Alma. 

PORTLAND REVIEW November 24, 1929:  Time turned backward 50 years for Mrs. Hiram WHITMORE and William S. BADGER, when they met a few days ago, for the first time since they were associated together as pupil and teacher in the RITENBURG schoolhouse, which stood on the corner (diagonally northeast across Kelsey & Grand River Ave. intersection) near where FERGUSON’S blacksmith shop is now located (on southwest). 

Fred SHINDORF gas station two miles west of Portland was entered by thieves for the third time this year.  This week $12.40 was missing from the cash register.  Also missing were six rings of bologna, a loaf of bread, a pound of cheese, and several quarts of milk. 

Brother of Sebewa man dies at Grand Rapids.  Stuart RISCHOW died November 21 at home there.  The funeral and burial were at Grandville.  Surviving are the wife, two children, three sisters and one brother, Carl RISCHOW of Sebewa Township.  Their mother died two months ago. 

PORTLAND REVIEW December 1, 1929:  More than 40 years ago Wellington E. PORTER, who was then leader of the Portland band, handed an alto horn to a frail young man who was known as “Fatty McCOLLUM”.  The nickname was a misnomer, if there ever was one, for his coat hung from his shoulders without touching any other part of his body and he had a lean and hungry look.  The young man was Prof. William J. McCOLLUM, who died at Petoskey last week. 

PORTLAND REVIEW June 8, 1950:  The annual Sebewa Center School Reunion will be held at the schoolhouse on June 10.  The late Heman BROWN, a Sebewa pioneer, wrote of the first school in this district.  “The schoolhouse built on the Jacob SHOWERMAN farm deserves more than a passing glance, as it was here the first shoots of knowledge began to grow in Sebewa Center District No. 4 (in 1846). 

   The schoolhouse was built of logs, was about 16 by 24 feet, had a large fireplace on the west end and a door on the north side near the west end.  The seats were homemade benches which sat around the walls.  For writing desks, holes were bored in the logs of the house and strong staves driven in.  Very smooth planed boards were fastened to these.  Here we learned arithmetic, reading and spelling.  The log building was replaced by a good frame building, north across the corner.  (1856 – see RECOLLECTOR Volume 41, No. 3, December 2005.)

   In 1857 Luryette I. BROWN, at the age of 16, first taught school there.  That building was replaced in 1882 by the present brick building a mile west”.  (Closed and consolidated with Lakewood in 1965.) 

PORTLAND REVIEW June 8, 1910:  Tank wagons make two trips from Ionia to Portland each week, and during the summer season 700 gallons of gasoline are sold in Portland every week.  This is because of the large number of autos owned here! 

PORTLAND REVIEW July 28, 1936:  Eugene BARRUS, 76, former resident, killed in North.  Uncle of Clarence DeLAVERGNE, BARRUS resided with him in Portland a few years ago.  The same hand of fate which reached out last winter and saved him from freezing to death on an ice floe in Lake Michigan dealt less kindly last week.  BARRUS was crushed to death in the cables of a suspension bridge at Charlevoix.  Funeral services were held in this village Tuesday.  A carpenter by trade, he had helped his nephew construct his blacksmith shop on South Kent Street, going from Portland to Charlevoix to reside.

  Last winter BARRUS was fishing through the ice on the bay at Charlevoix.  He was carried out into Lake Michigan when the ice broke loose, but was rescued.  Fishing from a railroad bridge a few days ago, the man failed to hear the warning whistle indicating the bridge was about to allow a boat to pass beneath.  He was caught in the gearing and cables and crushed to death. 

William ROGERS, 79, died last week following injury by an automobile the previous week.  Mr. ROGERS was widely known in the community, having resided in Sebewa most of his life.  (On the farm on north side of Eaton Highway later farmed by Loren SAYER and now by Tim BROWN.)  Mr. Rogers was walking along the road near Compton’s Corners north of Mulliken, when he stepped into the path of a car.  He was taken to the home of his daughter, Mrs. John DAVID, nearby and later removed to a hospital.  Surviving are Mrs. DAVID, one son, Earl ROGERS, and a sister, Mrs. Charles (Cora) VanHOUTEN, of Portland (formerly of Sebewa). 

Henry WHITMAN, 69, was born in Danby Township and lived most of his life in the area, except for a brief period in Lansing.  His parents were Mr. and Mrs. Newton WHITMAN, Frank WHITMAN of this village is a brother.  In 1905, Henry suffered a severe injury to his right hand while employed in the RAMSEY-ALTON factory.  When he was again able to work, he entered the employ of William RYAN in the bakery, later purchasing the business and operating it himself for many years.  Widow was former Lavina TRAIL, from Danby on Peake Rd. east of Frost. 

Santino GUIDI and Faust Agostini, Portland businessmen, narrowly escaped serious injury in an auto accident in the city of Ionia Monday evening.  The men came down the north (State Street) hill, missed the turn and went on to the dead end.  The car came to a halt when caught between two trees, just above the high embankment.  Faust opened the door on his side of the car to get out and fell down the embankment.  He was considerably shaken, but not badly injured.  It took several hours to extricate the vehicle.  (This spot is next to the Italianate home long occupied by Jacob LUSCHER, Jr., retired from Sebewa and pictured in The RECOLLECTOR, Volume 42, Number 6, June 2007, and now by Mrs. Arlene STIEN.  Similar accidents still happen there today.) 

United Brethren camp meeting will be held in the grove west of Sebewa Corners known as Barnaby Memorial Park, August 4-10 inclusive, and annual conference will be held there August 12-18, at which time assignment of pastors will be made.  Rev. R. A. HOFFMAN is music director, Miss Helen GOODSELL pianist.  Cottages, tents, rooms and meals are available at reasonable rates. 

William DeVries was to start work early this week on wrecking the wooden building which stands west of Albert GUIDI’S café, on the bank of the Grand River.  It was owned by A. SULPIZIO and until lately occupied as a tailor shop.  For years this building stood on land now occupied by the BURGER garage building on Kent Street.  Saturday Joseph VanDYKE, one of the bridge contractors, bought the old building and immediately sold it to Mr. DeVRIES for demolition.  (Clarence SAYER of Sebewa Center operated in the BURGER building for one year, selling and servicing Buicks we believe, but WWI sent him back to the farm.) 

PORTLAND REVIEW January 9, 1923:  WIDEN ROAD AT SUNFIELD. The last mile at the south end of the new gravel road being constructed from M-16 at CARBAUGH’S corners to Sunfield passes through that village and connects a little south with M-39 (now M-43).  It has been decided this mile shall have a 16-foot surface.  As contract was originally let, it calls for a 12-foot surface on the whole eight miles, but citizens of Sunfield believe this too narrow for use as a village street and called a joint meeting of village council, township board, and county road commission.  It was decided to increase the width of that last mile to 16 feet and the extra cost apportioned as follows:  Fifty percent on the county of Eaton, 25 percent on the township of Sunfield. 

THE PORTLAND REVIEW, Doremus & Mauren Publishers, October 29, 1895:  Another car of lumber this week at McClelland’s.  Buy your lumber and sidewalk plank at McClelland’s.  See McClelland’s before you buy that new overcoat or cloak.  Leave your order for firewood at McClelland’s and have it delivered.  Wm. Love reports that his yard will furnish the lumber for the new stores, requiring 60,000 feet.

   The faithful old grey horse driven by Leonard LINDLEY on the general delivery wagon, retired Thursday night in his usual good health and woke up Friday morning dead.  For many years he has made the rounds of the village in sunshine and storm and was never known to kick on his job.

   TURKEYS WANTED.  We are now in the market for live turkeys, and as usual will pay outside prices for good stock.  Poultry of all kinds taken on Tuesday and Wednesday of each week.  Wm. D. LAKIN.  (This was Ann SLOWINS’ great granddad, usually in partnership with Arthur NUNNELEY in the poultry and egg business in Portland, who had wagons and drivers that picked up this produce in the surrounding townships.)

   MERRIFIELD & BRADLEY wish to announce that they are now owners of the Sebewa Grist Mill and are prepared to accommodate all farmers who may call.  They have added a 35-horse engine and give 36-38 pounds of flour to a bushel of wheat.

   Thoroughbred Lestershire (Leicester Shire) Buck for sale very cheap.  P. O. WARD, North Sebewa.

   Spencer G. MILLARD, Lieutenant Governor of California and at one time a bright and promising lawyer in Portland and Ionia, born here in 1856, graduated from Hillsdale College, died Friday night, age 39. 

THE PORTLAND OBSERVER, Fall  1882:  John D. WOODBURY & Co are offering their entire stock of summer clothing and yard goods at cost or below.  CHURCHILL & WOODBURY have Dry Goods, Clothing, Hats and Caps, Boots and Shoes, Groceries etc, with prices beyond competition.  S. H. PINKINGTON has returned from the eastern markets with a full stock in every department of his Mamoth (sic) Store; butter and eggs taken in trade.  Fitch R. SAVAGE, the only one-price clothier.  (Whatever that means?)  J. B. MULLIKEN is general manager of the Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad.  (For whom the village of Mulliken was named.) 

PORTLAND REVIEW July 1, 1954:  The building where William B. STOCUM long operated his barber business was vacated over the weekend by Leo PIGGOTT, who purchased the business some years ago and later closed it when he went out of town to work.  Our memory of Kent Street goes back to the days of the Vaudette 5c movie show that used to be located in that building, taking in the space later occupied by the barber shop and that now occupied by RITTENGER Jewelry, before the building was divided.  Those we remember in the barber trade there are:  Lew GARDNER, Frank METCALF, Fred ENGLAND, Sr., William WALKER, Wright WAKLEY, Fred DeLANEY, Carl JENKINS, and Mr. STOCUM before PIGGOT.  Now our story takes a new turn, as this site will continue as a barber shop.  Herman SCHRAUBEN, Jr., who has been working in a barber shop in East Lansing, has purchased the equipment and will reopen after interior decorating is completed.  (After some years Herm purchased the Wagon Wheel Restaurant & Bowling Alleys west of Portland on Grand River Avenue.  His son “Chopper” and wife now run the Wagon Wheel.  Herm passed away in 2008.) 

PORTLAND REVIEW July 1, 1934:  The home formerly owned and occupied by the Peake sisters on Quarterline Street is being remodeled under the direction of C. E. BROWER of Albion, a son-in-law of Charles PEAKE.  Mr. & Mrs. BROWER and Mr. PEAKE expect to occupy it later in the year.

   During the year 1934 bonds amounting to $12,000 were paid off and taxpayers no longer will be taxed to meet the cost of the new (1918) school building, for which the district was bonded for $100,000. (!!!)  Taking up these bonds as they came due, and paying interest each year, has made the tax for the district very high.

   A barn on the Charles COURTNEY farm on the Portland-Sunfield Road burned to the ground early Tuesday morning after being struck by lightning.  (Now the James J. & Laurey L. BOWER farm.) 

PORTLAND REVIEW & OBSERVER January 8, 1959:  Funeral services for Mr. Issi T. FLETCHER of Rt. 2 Ionia were held Friday at PICKENS Funeral Home in Lake Odessa.  Mr. FLETCHER was a former longtime resident of Sebewa Township.  (On GODDARD Road at KNOLL Road.  His first wife was Ida May SECKSTONE and much of the farm came from her father, Henry SECKSTONE.  Issi’s second wife was Ida Jane STOUT, widow of O. NEWTON STOUT, old neighbors around the corner on Clarksville Road in Sebewa, and they were living in her home near Ionia.) 

PORTLAND REVIEW & OBSERVER January 8, 1959:  In a recent column we mentioned part of the history of the building on South Kent Street recently sold by George DILLEY to Dr. John HANCOCK.  (A double wooden building one story tall, which stood just south of the two-story brick building in which Dr. McBRIDE had his dentist office on the second floor with the bay window.)  Years ago the wooden building was owned and occupied by Gene MATHEWSON.  Mrs. Thomas DOWNING of Sebewa Township sends us these facts:  My sister, Kate KELLY, was born in that building 80 years ago next July 13.  I believe my aunt, Mrs. Charley TIFFT, and her husband owned it at that time and my grandmother ran a millinery store there at that time.”  And from Albert HUDSON of Lansing we receive more information:  “One business located there for about two years 1893-1894 was a laundry.  Carl DOYLE started it and I think it was Portland’s first.  Doyle and his wife, and a sister-in-law did all the work.  My brother James and I carried water from the Grand River to do the washing.  Mrs. DOYLE died and Carl went back to Detroit.  Later he married Maude SOULES of Portland and the couple went to Belding and operated a grocery until his death.  The laundry was on the north side of the building and Mr. MATHEWSON’S second hand store was in the south part.”  L. E. KART has moved his shoe repair shop to the building just south of Hotel Divine.  For many years the business had been located in the north half of the building owned by HANCOCK, and DILLEY’S barber shop was in the south half.  (To be replaced by a brick building for Dr. HANCOCK’S optometry office.  We believe Mr. Coral KARKER ran the shoe repair before KART.) 

PORTLAND REVIEW & OBSERVER May 14, 1939:  Wellman DARLING, who resides south of Section School in Danby, (in SHIMNECON) suffered a broken leg Saturday while endeavoring to break a horse.  Frank FANDEL suffered a bad sprain of his foot when it was run over by a disc harrow at his farm in Sebewa. 

PORTLAND REVIEW & OBSERVER May 14, 1899:  Councilman Albert Abram WAY, longtime manager of Portland Manufacturing Company near the upper bridge, has purchased the 40-acre DICKSON farm on the west edge of town. 

PORTLAND REVIEW & OBSERVER August 13, 1959:  David Charles (Louie) McCLUNG son of Mr. & Mrs. John McCLUNG of Rt 3, Portland, is father of the USS Arizona bill which was recently passed and signed into law in Hawaii.  Mr. McCLUNG, who is representative from the 14th District, Oahu, in the Hawaii legislature, initiated an appropriations bill for the USS Arizona Memorial Fund in the sum of $127,000.  The sunken battleship serves as a tomb for 1102 who made the supreme sacrifice Dec. 7, 1941.  Eventual salvage of the battleship and removal of the dead had been deemed impractical.  Mr. McCLUNG is a Portland High School graduate.

   Dan M. WATSON stops in to tell us of a happy reunion enjoyed last week with a fellow student at Ferris Institute back in 1912, Herman DECKER.  Included was Carl O. DERBY, president of MAYNARD-ALLEN State Bank, another student at Ferris at same time.  Mr. DECKER had been a cowpoke and a shepherd before his long connection with L. A. Police. 

IONIA COUNTY NEWS August 1, 1963:  Dr. George L. MORSE, 57, Dentist and Lake Odessa Village President, died suddenly Tuesday afternoon, July 30, at approximately 5:00 pm, at his summer home in Sebewa Township (actually on the Danby side of the road) northeast of Lake Odessa.  Dr. MORSE and his wife were planning to entertain the Lake Odessa Lions Club officers and their wives to a picnic when he was taken ill.  He was born November 21, 1905, in Danby Township, the son of Dr. Frederick and Nellie HIGH MORSE.  He was a lifelong resident of the community, graduating from Lake Odessa High School in 1923 and from University of Michigan Dental School in 1929.  He had been in practice in Lake Odessa since his graduation.  He was a member of Central Methodist Church, Ionia County Club, and was Chief Administrator of Civil Defense for the area.  He served as a council member before he was elected village president and was serving his third term in that capacity.  Dr. MORSE was also active in the Lions Club, had served as deputy district governor and zone chairman of Lions International.  He was past president of Lake Odessa Lions and presently holding the office of secretary-treasurer for many years.  He was also a committee chairman of the Leader-Dogs-For-The-Blind of Michigan.  Survivors include his wife, Marie L. and his mother, Nellie M., both of Lake Odessa; one sister, Mrs. Frances LaLONZE of Detroit; one niece and two nephews. 

PORTLAND REVIEW & OBSERVER August 18, 1966:  Last week Danby lost one of its oldest landmarks.  A crew from the Road Commission sawed down the basswood tree that for more than 130 years has marked Basswood Corners, the junction of Charlotte Highway and Towner Road.  The old tree had become decayed on the inside and was only a shell, judged to be a menace to life and property should it be blown down in a storm.  It was almost in the middle of the right-of-way of Towner Road, where the old Indian trail, the ox road, the wagon tracks, and now the improved TOWNER Road made a bend around it.  It served as a billboard, where for as long as anyone can remember, the big wheels of the Republican and Democrat Parties have tacked up their notices of caucuses and rallies, where the township officers have posted notices of elections and town meetings, where promoters of opera house shows, dances and fairs have done their advertising, and where farmers have put up their auction notices.  We suspect enough tacks have been driven into its trunk to have laid the carpets in all the sitting rooms and parlors of Danby Township.  In the past few years, after a hole had rotted into its heart, it has served the animal kingdom, a mother squirrel has raised broods of young in safety.  No hunter has suspected her presence and has driven past her tree to hunt in the deep woods nearer the river.  When the stump has been removed and the little crook in TOWNER Road straightened, BASSWOOD Corners will be only a memory.

   Village of Portland work crews have been tearing up Kent and James Streets to replace the old galvanized water pipes with copper and reseal all joints, then re-pave.  They uncovered old wooden mains, put in service in the 1880s by Portland Water Co., privately owned.  They were wrapped with steel bands and coated with a coal tar enamel.  The village later bought the system and most were no longer connected. 

PORTLAND REVIEW & OBSERVER  October 27, 1966:  This issue begins the one hundredth year of the PORTLAND REVIEW & OBSERVER has published news for the Portland area.  The first Portland paper was called the ADVERTISER, first published October 24, 1867, by J. H. WICKWIRE.  It was issued every Tuesday and cost $2.00 per year.  WICKWIRE was not a printer himself and had it printed in Grand Rapids.  After a few weeks, J. W. BAILEY bought a half interest and became co-editor and publisher.  Bailey set up a printing press on the third floor of the old Masonic Building and printed the paper there until the building was destroyed by fire.  Thirty-nine months later, BAILEY bought out WICKWIRE and became sole editor.  The ADVERTISER was usually four pages in length, there weren’t any headlines or photographs and very few drawings.  National news took up more space than local news.  When President Andrew JOHNSON was impeached, the ADVERTISER devoted half of its space to proceedings at the House debates, the President’s messages, and other news of the event.  Advertising was heavy too.  The ads were quite different from their present day counterparts.  Great remedies for any and all ills were often seen.  Among the most frequent were “Madam Zadoc Porter’s Curative Cough Balsam” made from pure vegetables, “Morehead’s Magnetic Plaster” for killing pain and magnetizing pain away, the “Olive Tar and Sugar Coated Pills” in opposition to castor oil and Epsom salts.  In 1870 Bailey changed the Advertiser’s name to the PORTLAND OBSERVER and enlarged its size.  Soon the OBSERVER started coming out on Wednesday instead of Tuesday.

   In 1885, a new paper called the PORTLAND REVIEW was started by Frank E. DOREMUS.  Fred J. MAUREN, Sr. became his assistant and then his partner.  In 1900, Mauren took over the REVIEW and was its editor for 37 years.  During this time the two competing papers doubled in page numbers and were using headlines.  There was much more local news and other features such as ladies sections, comics, news of neighboring towns, and many pictures.  The papers merged in 1939 to become the PORTLAND REVIEW & OBSERVER.  Fred J. MAUREN, Jr. of the REVIEW took over the OBSERVER interests of E. GRISWOLD and his mother, Mrs. R. E. GRISWOLD, and became the editor of the new paper.  The total number of subscriptions of the new paper was 1800 and it was issued on Thursday instead of Wednesday.  The paper concentrated on local news:  the issue after Pearl Harbor bombing said nothing about the bombing except listing the Portland men known to be in the Pearl Harbor area.  This was probably due to advances in other forms of communications such as the radio, which informed people of national news as it happened.  In early days a considerable amount of the subscription payments came in the form of firewood to burn in the potbellied heating stove in the newspaper office located upstairs above a store.  Other subscription payments were chickens and eggs.  The REVIEW & OBSERVER switched to newer and more modern means of production on October 24, 1963.  Under this new process, the paper was printed from a photograph, rather than the typesetting process used before.  Fred J. MAUREN, Jr. grew up in the newspaper business, moved the business downstairs, and then to a new building he had constructed on South Kent Street, and had a solid 50 years experience behind him when he died in 1961, about age 60.  John F. MAUREN, and siblings Margaret Schrauben and Dick MAUREN, ran the paper thru the 1963 production changes and sold it to Jay BLACKMORE June 4, 1964. 

PORTLAND REVIEW  August 18, 1966:  The Portland Methodist Church was the setting on Saturday, July 30, for the candlelight wedding of Miss Janice CALLIHAN and Mr. Herbert MOSSER.  The bride is the daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Charles CALLIHAN of 410 Vessey Street.  The groom’s parents are Mr. and Mrs. Elvart MOSSER of rural Portland.  The newlyweds are residing at 862 Lyons Road after returning from a honeymoon in the upper peninsula.  The groom is employed at TRW and the bride will teach in Grand Ledge Junior High.  (Today (Aug. 2009) she can be found at Portland District Library; and along with their son Robert, they own the MOSSER Farm, second farm east of Union Cemetery on Peck Lake Road in Portland Township.) 

PORTLAND REVIEW  August 25, 1946:  Robert E. QUARLES of Owosso was killed in an airplane crash in Sebewa on Sunday August 18.  His fiancée, Miss Isabell KIRBY also of Owosso, was critically injured. 

PORTLAND REVIEW  October 27, 1966:  The history of the MAYNARD-ALLEN State Bank goes back to 1874, when the original banking firm of MAYNARD ALLEN and Company was founded by Charles H. MAYNARD, Captain E. M. ALLEN, and J. B. ROE.  The latter two partners were distant relatives of Mr. MAYNARD, who had been in the mercantile business in Portland since 1858.  Both Mr. MAYNARD and Mr. ALLEN were natives of New York State.  Mr. Allen served as a captain in the Civil War, and his regiment was one of the first to enter Richmond at the close of the war.  Mr. Roe retired from the banking firm a few years after it was formed and the name was changed to MAYNARD and ALLEN, continuing to do business under that name until 1906, when it was chartered as MAYNARD-ALLEN State Bank.

   The financial institution made steady progress throughout the years.  In 1949 it took over the accounts of the Westphalia State Bank in Clinton County.  In 1950 it remodeled the main office on Kent Street in Portland, expanding its teller facilities and officer’s stations.  In January 1966 it established an office in Sunfield, Eaton County.  Current Chairman of the Board, Walter H. McBRIDE, DDS, was on the Board at the time of chartering in 1906.  Other officers are Carl O. DERBY, President, with 54 years of service, Leo C. LEHMAN, Vice President 21 years, Malcom B. ROBERTSOON, Vice President 44 years, John A. DICKINSON, Cashier 10 years, E. Bard FISH, Assistant Cashier Westphalia office 15 years, Ralph A. DRAVENSTATT, Assistant Cashier Sunfield office 5 years, Dean A. Cridler, Assistant Cashier main office 6 years.  Directors are:  Walter H. McBRIDE, Leo C. LEHMAN, Carl O. DERBY, Malcolm B. ROBERTSON, Walter HEILEN, Melborn E. SANDBORN, E. Bard FISH, John KORTES, Welland W. SPRAGUE, Clayton E. KOKX, and John A. DICKINSON. 

PORTLAND REVIEW  October 27, 1926:  Arthur LEHMAN removed the last of the buildings which he purchased and wrecked on the POWERS Park site last week.  The old COMER house has been torn down and the materials piled near the road.  Teams and scrapers have been busy leveling off the park site.  So near to completion are negotiations for the old Laban SMITH, Sr. farm north of town, to be transformed into a golf course, that work is expected to be started early next week.


 

FROM:  Grayden D. SLOWINS, Editor
       THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR
       3226 E. Musgrove Hwy.
       Lake Odessa, MI  48849-9528




Last update October 20, 2021